Vhenan'ara: Heart's Desire
by AZookiex3
Summary: She has been killing slavers since she was 12. One night she saves an elf named Lin. They become close over the years, really close. But tragedy strikes at her life. She is left with the ghost of his memory. Will she let that ghost completely consume her, or will she allow the Wolf to save her. Beginning: Hawke x Lin (OC), later Hawke x Fenris.
1. Chapter 1: The Meeting

**AN: **Hello everyone! New, and old! I know I haven't put anything up in _awhile _and want to make up for that. I started re-reading this story and have made a few changes. Most are not noticeable. Just some grammar things mostly, but there are story changes as well. I want to get back into writing again, but don't want to remove this story and re upload it, so I'll just update each chapter!

**Chapter Updated: 11/23/2015**

* * *

"Stop your lollygagging!" He hears one of the Masters' guard say to him. The guard pushes his back, nearly making him trip on his ankle chains. He could see nothing. He could only feel the cold dry earth on his bare feet, the deathly cold wind blowing through his thin clothes, and the scuffling of his chains against the dirt and his skin. He could feel the muscles in his ankles and wrist begin to hurt. He didn't understand why he was being treated like this. He didn't ask for this; for any of this.

_Yes you did_, he hears his mind say.

Suddenly fast moving images speed across his closed eyelids. He sees parts of the day the Master found him. He could only recall the Masters' face lite by the fire in his hand. He remembers nothing of what lied around him. He could only remember the smell of blood, a lot of blood. If he strains, he can remember feeling a wetness surround his bare feet. He remembers the stick of it as he tried to lift his foot. He remembers a dark mist start to take over him, and the Masters' orange glow face smiled at that. The Masters' guards start to surround him and shove him to the blood stained ground. He remembers the feeling of the iron bracings being locked and tightened on his wrists and ankles. One guard lifts him by the collar of his shirt as another behind him ties a blindfold on his face. He has been like that since.

"Keep moving my pet," he hears the Master call returning his mind back to reality.

"As he says," he hears the guard say behind him, "Unless you want to be whip-", he hears the guard stop and gurgle as he falls to the ground.

An attack?

"Shit! I told you twits to watch the trees!" He hears the Master yell as an aura of magic started to surround where he assumed the Master was. He drops down to his knees and covers his head the best he can. He hears something to his left fall with a light thud, then hears that same sound start to run towards the other guards surrounding him.

"Shit! Who the fu-"a guard started to say, but ended up with the same fate as the guard that was behind him. He hears swords being unsheathed and hears the guards scream as they try to attack the invader. He hears sword against sword and with each contact a guard fell. The smell of blood started to grow strong around him.

"Retreat!" he hears the Master yell, "This isn't over, bitch!" He hears the Master and his remaining guards run -

And a small, light voice laugh, "Damned slavers. They just never learn," he hears feet turn and start to make their way towards him, "Sooner or late they'll know not to walk in _my_ Wilds with stolen people." The voice kneels in front of him, "Now then," the voice says gently, "let's get these things off of you." He feels the voice unshackle his ankles and wrists. He then feels warm, feather like, fingers on his face, "This too."

Then he could see. _See_. He blinks up at the night sky watching the twinkling of stars above. He looks at the tall looming naked trees; a sign of the upcoming winter. He then looks towards the bright moon. _Full_. He slowly brings his eyes down to the body of the voice kneeling in front of him.

It is a girl. A human. A _young_ looking human girl. Maybe around his age. She has long black hair that shined, _beautifully_ he thought, under the bright full moon that was directly over her. Her long hair was tied into a think looking braid, with all of it laying down over her left shoulder. There was also a smaller bit of her hair swayed sideways against her forehead. The bang came down almost covering her left eye. He moves his eyes to her face and saw shining dark blue eyes staring back at him. Like her hair, her eyes seemed to glow under the moonlight. Her glowing eyes were surrounded by black ink. The ink covered the entirety of her eyes and from it black lines swirled on her forehead. It looked like a mask.

She smiles at him, "Hello there. Are you hurt? Can you stand?" He looks down at the ground and at the dirt between his toes. He looks to his bent knee caps and saw bright red lines where he has fallen on multiple occasions. Slowly he stood, watching his knees work. Once he stood fully straight he looks around at the battle that surrounded them.

"Walk?" she asked as she stood as well. She herself walks over to a tree to his left and stands, waiting. He paused, watching her and looking behind her at the dark forest. Slowly he walks watching her watching him with each step. He stops right in front of her with his bare toes almost meeting her covered feet. She smiles again, "Good. I'm glad. Do you have a name?"

He stood confused, _A name…_. He looks to her. Her head is tilted slightly to the left, making her bang fall to show her face completely. He opens and close his mouth. Trying to make it work. Then, "I…remember being called Era'harel before…," he says quietly, surprised by his own voice.

She smiles softly, "That's not really a name. Era'harelis," she stops her words and looks down, as if contemplating what she should say or maybe reveal, "Well," she starts looking back up at him, "It's just not really a name. I mean it is, but isn't." He nods his understanding to her. _Did he understand her? Truly?_ He looked up to the moon, thinking.

"Lin," he said up at the moon, then paused to look back at her, "That's what the Master called me when he found me."

"That'll have to do," she said and smiled brightly at him, baring her bright white teeth like the moon, "Let's go then, Lin," she said turning around to face the darkness of the forest. As she walked she said, "Let's bring you home." He looks back at the bodies behind him one finally time, then turns and hurries after her.

~.~

They walk for what felt like hours through the dark cold forest. Their feet crushing the dried brown leaves under them. He was shivering, but he knew he shouldn't complain. Besides, the reason why their walk seemed to take forever was because he was the one walking slow. He wanted to observe every little detail of the dark forest. It felt like it has been so long since he's actually _seen_ anything. His savior didn't complain about his walking speed. It seemed like she almost understood his feelings.

"Where are we?" Lin asks.

"In the Korcari Wilds, the southern part of Ferelden," she answers. He nods and they continue to walk in silence for a few more paces.

"Do you remember anything?" she asks.

"About being taken?" he asks. She nodded, "Not much," he said, "I only remember the Master's face, and the smell of blood."

"I see," she said then sighed, "Well if you smelled blood maybe it's a good thing you don't remember. Blood and mages don't mix well."

"They do. Just not for the good," he said. She looks sideways at him and smiles.

"You're right," she looks back in front of her, "You must not have been taken too long for you to so openly talk and joke about this. Most slaves would actually defend their Masters."

"So you've done this before?"

"What? Save slaves? Oh yes, it's a favorite pass time of mine."

"From what the Master said it seemed like he was expecting you," Lin said looking towards her.

"Not surprising," she said still looking straight, "Yes you're not the first and you won't be the last. It seems I have made quite the reputation with the slavers around these parts," she laughs then looks at him, "I'm quite proud of it."

They walked in silence after that. The crunch of the leaves continued, but grew more frequent as they delve further into the Wilds. Lin watches as the tall trees above them began to get closer and closer, almost blocking out the night sky completely. In the distance he could hear the trickle of water, perhaps a lake nearby.

"We're almost there," she says and he nods. He shivers again as another breeze blows through him. This time she saw it. She removes her black cloak and puts it around him. She also pulls the hood over his head.

"Thank you," Lin said quietly, grasping the cloak surrounding his frame in his hands and pushing some of his black hair away from his face, "Will you-"

"You're welcome, and don't worry about me. I'll be fine," she said smiling at him, "My own home is not too far from here. Thank you for your concern though."

"Another trait you're not used to from slaves?" She laughs loudly making his heart thump hard against his chest.

Why did it do that?

"Those who were extremely loyal to their master hated me for a while. Didn't give two-shits about me. Honestly though, I don't think I can count you as a slave."

"No?"

"Nope!" she said happily, "I think I got to you just in time."

"Another first?"

"Another first," she sighs. She stops and points in front of them, "There! See that?" Lin follows the direction of her outstretched hand and saw a very distant orange glow. There were multiples of them seeming to form a circle. Around the outline of the orange glow he could see the tall trees separate leaving a wide opening.

He starts walking towards it without a second thought and hears his savior laugh behind him, "Wow, you must really be cold!" she laughs again and runs up behind him as he came to the clearing. He stops and looks around with wide eyes. He saw those distant orange glows closer now. Each was a fire that were, indeed, outlining the circle of the clearing with the addition of another fire in the center. He saw a few make-shift tents scattered within and what looked to be miniature boats with red sails.

_You remember what they're called_, a voice said to him.

_I do?_

_You do_. Lin stood there squinting at the boat trying to focus on the memory that was surfacing.

_They're aravels_. When he returned from his thoughts he saw pairs upon pairs of eyes watching him. Old eyes filled sorrow, adult eyes filled with concern, child eyes filled with curiosity, even some blank baby stares. He then turns his eyes to ones with arrows trained on him. Their eyes were filled with distrust.

"It's alright! It's me!" Lin hears his savior run up behind him panting. She places a hand on his shoulder, "He's with me!" Instantly the arrows were gone and the eyes were filled with relief. The other eyes stopped looking as well.

_This human girl must be well known for these Dalish to trust her_, the voice said.

One of the bow carriers, an elf woman, walks up to them and motions for them to follow her. Lin looks to his savior who still holds his shoulder. She nods at the bow woman then looks at him, smiling. She squeezes his shoulder then follows the women with him close behind.

They stop at the fire that was in the middle of the circle. Behind the fire was a much larger tent and aravel from the rest. The tent and aravel were decorated with golden swirls against dark red fabric. They wait in front of the fire as the bow woman climbs the few steps up the aravel. She ducks her head into it and starts speaking very quietly to the person inside. Soon after an elderly elf emerged from the aravel. The elder walks down to stand behind the fire. She had grey shoulder length hair with two braids coming down the front of her face. The thin braid continued around her head and to her back. Her face was covered in golden swirls that surround her forehead, with two other lines of swirls coming from the ends of her lips. His savior bows her head to the elder.

"Aneth ara da'len," the elder women said to his savior.

"Aneth ara Keeper," she said with her head bowed then stood straight, "I bring another."

"I see," the elder turns her eyes to his and smiles kindly. He feels safe within those eyes, "Ma serannas," the elder said turning her attention back to the human girl, "It is very late da'len. Please return home quickly. I know your parents worry a great deal."

"I know Keeper. I would've been home already had I not been luckily stopped," she winks at him. His heart beats again.

The elder laughs, "I see. Do you need help getting back? I can send a hunter-"

"No need Keeper, please. I'll be fine." She turns to Lin and pulls him into a hug. His heart was beating so fast it _hurt_, "I'll be back tomorrow, Lin," she whispers into his pointed ears. His heart pounded even more, so much that he swears she can feel it. She pulls away and smiles at him with her eyes shining brightly once more. She turns to the elder, nods, says her goodbyes, and then retreats into the woods. He watches her until she disappears from his sight.

"Lin," the elder called. Lin turns to the elder. His body warm from the fire, the elder's eyes, and that girls embrace, "That is what she called you. You know what that means in Dalish da'len?"

"Blood," Lin said instantly surprising himself, "It means blood."

"Indeed," she says, "You are fine being called that?"

"I am."

The elder nods sympathetically, "I am Keeper Marethari." This time Lin nods his head. She smiles and turns behind her to place a hand between the slit of the tent opening it to him, "Come da'len," she said, "You deserve a rest." He nods to the elder and enters the tent with her. She gestures to the bedrolls inside and he goes to one. He gives her his thanks then lays gratefully in between the warm wool. The Keeper says her goodnights then leaves and he hears her climbing into her aravel. After, again, what felt like hours he starts to drowse. He was so close to sleep-

Then woke with a start of realization.

He didn't ask her name.

~.~

He must have fell asleep again for he felt those annoying crumbs in the corners of his eyes. He removes his hand from the warmth of the bedroll and rubs the crumbs away. He looks up and sees the top of the Keeper's tent.

So it wasn't a dream.

He hears the birds sing their song and idle chatter coming from outside, "Guess there's no point in waiting anymore", Lin says to himself. He grunts as he leaves the warmth and comfort of the bedroll and silently hopes he'll have many more nights in it.

_With her_, the voice returned.

_Shut it_, Lin replies and leaves the tent. He blinks multiple times before his eyes finally adjust to the brightness. The fires were diminished during the day. Surrounding the fire pits were various groups of elves. All of them were laughing and talking to each other. He was surprised that none of them were paying him any mind.

"Good morning, da'len," Lin turns to his left and sees Keeper Marethari approach him.

"Good morning Keeper," he bowed his head to her and when he looked up he saw a child behind her. The child had short black hair and big green eyes that shined.

"Today da'len I want you to get to know your new clan. I want you to feel comfortable here."

"I don't think that will be a problem Keeper."

The Keeper and child smiled at him, "Serannas. I'm happy to hear it. Before I let you go I have some questions to ask you."

"Of course, Keeper."

"You have Vallaslin on you da'len. Were you part of a clan?"

"I…" he had markings on his face? He wonders what they look like, "I'm assuming so Keeper. I do not remember much."

"I understand da'len", the Keeper looks at him with forgiving eyes, "Anything you can remember would help." Lin looks down and squints at the dirt trying to remember for the Keeper. Still, nothing comes to his mind besides one word.

"Era'harel," he said quietly to the dirt. He looks up and sees the Keeper's face grow serious, and the child's become forgiving, "Era'harel," he repeats, "That's all I remember Keeper." He watched as the Keeper turned her gaze to the dirt. After a beat, she looks back at him with a smile.

"Are you alright with your name, Lin?"

"Yes."

"Final question, do you know how old you are?"

He squints again, "…sixteen," then more confidently, "I am sixteen years old."

The Keeper's smile seemed to shine at him, "Ma serannas, Lin. Please, enjoy the rest of your day. Da'len?" She looks down at the child next to her.

"Yes Keeper?" the little girl says.

"Please show Lin around camp."

"Of course, Keeper." Keeper Marethari smiles at her, nods at him, then retreats into her aravel. The child walks to him and smiles brightly, "Andaran atish'an Lin," the child said nodding then looking back up at him, "Emma Merrill." He nods to her and her face grows with alarm, "Oh! I'm sorry!" Merrill said her eyes turning to concern, "The Keeper said you were Dalish, so I thought you knew the language. I forgot you don't remember much. Sorry!" He blinks down at her surprised and confused, then laughs quietly.

"No it's alright, Merrill. It's true I don't remember my past, but I do remember some of our language," he smiles down at her and gently places his hand on top of her small head, "Though, I'm sure you'll help me learn more correct?" She gave a big smile that opened her small mouth and looked up to him with shinning green eyes.

"Yes! Or uh I hope so!"

"Me too. Now then, care to show me around?"

"Oh yes! Please follow me!" And so their trip around the circle started. Merrill introduced him to various elves. He met Ilen the clan's craftsman, Maren the clan's halla keeper, and Hahren Paivel who was the clan's story teller. They stopped for a while with the story teller. Paivel asked some of the same questions as the Keeper, and Lin in return asked about some of their history. Paivel dismissed them soon however, smiling while he told Lin that there will be time another day for him to explain their history. Lin and Merrill continued their walk with her naming a few more elves.

"Not to be rude Merrill, I am enjoying my time, but why did the Keeper ask you to guide me? You are a child still yes? I see no Vallaslin on you," Lin asks her as they walk to the back of the circle. Merrill said that's where the hunters were.

"I am to be the Keeper's First," she said.

"Really? A child?"

"Oh no, no! I mean, yes, but not right away, obviously," she said trying to explain, "It has not been fully announced yet since I am still a child, but it is no secret that I shall take the role. I am the only other one in the clan to possess magic abilities."

"Only mages can be Keepers?"

"Yes, it's apparent that all Keepers know a bit of old magic. I was not born into this clan. My birth clan gave me to this one for they already had enough of mages. I was not needed."

"It sounds like they just threw you away."

"No! Nothing like that!" she said alarmed, "Every ten years the Dalish clans commence Arlathvhen. It is an event where all the clans come together and trade information they have learned. They also evaluate the groups to see if we're well spread out." Lin nods his understanding to her. She looks in front of her, "We're almost at the group." He doesn't hear the young elf, though. For his mind was filled with what, _who_, he saw. He starts walking hurriedly towards the group before Merrill even finished calling his name.

"Lin!" His savior yells waving her arm at him. Once he was at her side she gave him a quick side hug. He looks around at the group she was with and saw three elves equipped like her. There were two males and one female. As he looked at the group he heard young Merrill run up beside him.

"You're fast!" she huffs hands on her knee caps. She catches her breath then straightens and introduces each in the group with her hand.

"This is Fenarel," Merrill's hand pointed to the male elf with shoulder length blond hair. He had the same green eyes as Merrill, but they were darker. He had many Vallaslin lines surrounding his face, and he was equipped with a shield and sword.

"This is Tamlen," Merrill's hand moved towards the other male elf who has short dirty blond hair. He had bright blue eyes and was also equipped with a sword and shield. His Vallaslin markings swirled on his forehead as well as two lines coming from the corners of his mouth across his cheek, like the Keeper's. He sat closely with the elf girl.

"And this is Mahariel—"

"Lyna, if you please," the elf girl said with a smile. Unlike the other two she was equipped with a bow. She had dark chocolate brown hair in the same style as the Keeper. Her skin is as pale as his saviors. She had narrow green eyes and she had dark green eye shadow surrounding them. Her Vallaslin lines were much thicker than the others. They swirled on her forehead making them look like a crown of sorts. She had one line down the length of her small nose, and two other swirls just below her eyes. She also has two thick lines on her chin. Those lines made him want to grab her chin and examine her closely. She was beautiful.

"This is Lin," Merrill said finally pointing to him.

"Andaran atish'an Lin," the three elves said together. All of them smiling and nodding to him.

"Andaran atish'an Fenarel, Tamlen, and Lyna," he said nodding and smiling to each, "Ma serannas."

"So it's true," Fenarel said with eyebrows up in shock, "You are a Dalish."

"Apparently so since there is evidence on my face," Lin replied.

"Ha! Looks like you lucked out on this one," Tamlen said to his savior.

"Seems I did," she said smiling at him.

"It's always so awful when an elven comes to us not remembering anything but the duties of a slave," Lyna said with a small sigh, "I'm glad there's still some hope in this world."

Lin takes a seat next to his savior and Merrill takes the spot on the other side of her. There the group talked about various things. They asked some questions, he asked some questions, and his savior cracked a couple of jokes making them all laugh. They all sat there talking till the morning sun went up to its afternoon spot in the sky.

"I have to go," his savior said holding a hand up to cover her eyes as she looks at the sun, "Since I was out so late yesterday I promised my parents I'd be home midday."

"Alright," Lyna said, "See you tomorrow?"

"You bet," she said winking at Lyna, "Come on Lin," she stands up and grabs his arm forcing him to stand with her, "Walk me to the entrance. You know the way now right?"

"I do thanks to my little guide," Lin said smiling at Merrill.

"Oh you would have been fine. The camp's not that big," Merrill said blushing. Everyone laughs at the young elf. They said their goodbyes and he lead his savior to the entrance.

"So you like it here? Everything is fine?" she asked as they walked.

"Yes it seems very nice here. I was surprised that no one looked at me with suspicion."

"It's because they're used to my shenanigans."

"Speaking of which," Lin turns his head to look at her, "Why does this clan place so much trust in you? From what I heard Dalish and humans do not mix."

She laughs, "That's true. Here's the story: A couple years ago my father and I were hunting here, caught some good meat for the family. As we delved further into the heart of the Wilds I got caught in one of the Dalish traps. Instantly my father and I, hanging from a tree by the leg, were surrounded by their hunters. I remember one of them making a joke about shemlen meat, I think it was Tamlen in fact. They cut me down and brought us to Keeper Marethari. Her and my father talked for quite some time in her aravel and they came to a deal."

"You see my father is a mage, an apostate, and he's _very_ powerful. He knew some tricks to help her and her people stay away from humans, and was willing to train her and other mages in the secrets hes learned. While they talked I became fascinated with the clan as I watched them move around camp. Before we left I asked the Keeper if I could come by regularly to learn about them. She must have seen the honesty in me wanting to learn about her people and allowed it."

"That's when I started noticing slavers traveling the forest regularly with their precious 'cargo'. It sickened me so I decided to intervene. When I brought the first one to the clan they were suspicious, some angry, but the Keeper was proud of me and asked me to continue saving her people. Over time the clans' suspicion dwindled and their trust grew. I told my parents what I was doing and they were proud, but even so my mom was concerned. She didn't want her first born baby getting hurt, or worse, captured. My dad promised her he'd train me more in stealth and quickness. I promised her I would never get caught and will always be home before midnight."

"Your father teaches you to fight? You said he is a mage," Lin asks.

"He is, and a very powerful one," she smiles at him, "So he knows that you need to know more than just magic in order to protect yourself. There are spells and toxics out there that can stop a mages magic flow. He says mages should be prepared for everything and anything. He's rather quite skilled at dual wielding."

"I see, and the reason why you have to leave now is because you were out past your promise."

"That's right," she sighs, "when I finally came home my mother was waiting on our porch sick with worry. I apologized to her and said I'd take a break for a week."

"She didn't try to stop you, at all?"

"She never would. She knows what I do is good even if it quickens the growing grey in her hair." They made it to the entrance and she went to stand in front of him, "Thank you for walking me and hearing me jabber about my wonderful tale."

He laughed, "You're quite welcome, and it was I who asked about your 'wonderful' tale."

She smiles warmly at him, "I'll try to be back tomorrow, though I imagine you won't have a lot of time to chat. I'm sure Keeper Marethari plans on having Paivel educate you in some long ass history, and have Ilen test your hand at a sword and bow."

"Yes, tomorrow should be interesting," he said with a sigh. He was enjoying this time of just wandering and examining his surroundings.

"It'll be over before you know it!" she said in reassurance, "Dareth shiral, Lin." She turns her back to him and starts to walk away.

"Wait!" he yells and she looks back, "I..uh..you never told me your name." She stares at him at first then gives him her beautiful laugh.

"You never asked?" she said still laughing as she walked back to him. She held out her hand and said,

"The name's Riley Hawke. Hawke with the mask, Riley without," Riley says winking at him.

"I see," Lin said with a smile then grasped her hand and shook it, "Ma serannas Hawke, for rescuing me." She gives him her smile that made his chest hurt.

"Anytime Lin. Dareth shiral."

"Dareth shiral."

~.~

That night she dreamt of him. She dreamt of their meeting in the woods. She sees his long black hair against his fair skinned face, covered with dirt and dry blood, shine in the moonlight. She watches him as he looks at his surroundings. His long hair moving over his shoulders and lengthen to the middle of his chest. She watches as his eyes finally fall to hers. She studies his large eyes. They were a beautiful blue purple color, _indigo_, that shinned in the moonlight. She noticed that he had the Vallaslin markings of Dirthamen.

_A Dalish?_ She thinks.

She sees the way he looks at her, like she was some sort of goddess. She watches his lips curl into a half smile as they talk. She listens to the way he laughs when she tells a bad joke. She feels his heart beat against her chest as she hugs him, and she hears the way her name sounds on his lips.

She likes it. _Really_ likes it.

Riley smiles in her sleep.


	2. Chapter 2: The Cave

**WARNING: Gorey descriptions in this chapter.**

**Chapter Updated: 11/23/2015**

* * *

Three years past.

He has learned much.

And has remembered some.

Lin and Keeper Marethari learn together that a demon is trapped within him. The demon gave him some magical talent, but not nearly as much to be considered a mage. The demon gave him a power where he could _drain_ someone of their life source.

It is this power, he remembers, that is keeping him _alive_.

One night he has a dream, or maybe a memory. He was sixteen years old again and surrounded by Dalish hunters. A Dalish mage, he thinks it was the Keeper, was standing next to him. They were standing in front of a mirror. The dream Keeper said it was called an Eluvian. The Keeper said they sensed a powerful demon dwelling inside. The demon spoke to them all, begging to be set free, offering our lost past. The Keeper knew better.

But the Keeper was worried. If they set the demon free in order to defeat it, the Keeper felt that they would not succeed. He remembers offering himself to the Keeper; offering to be the host. The demon would be less powerful and it would be easier for them to kill it. The Keeper said he shouldn't want to throw away his life like that, and he said he was doing it to protect the clan. No one else was stepping up. In the distance, he heard a woman cry.

And thus so they stood in front of the mirror. The Keeper readied the ritual and he readied himself. The hunters all drew their weapons, training them on his back. The Keeper started to glow when speaking the rituals chant, and the mirror began to glow with him. He felt the power blow from the mirror and through him. Soon, the shadow of a beast came out of the mirror. The shadow rushed towards the Keeper and the Keeper deflected it sending the demon straight to him.

He remembers the _pain_. The feeling of his body being burned from the inside. He was on his hands and knees; his fingers were digging into the dirt as he screamed. He could _feel_ the demon move inside of him, and he felt the thing try to take hold of his mind.

_Be strong_, he remembers telling himself, _take control_. He hears the demon scream inside of him as he creates a block to his mind. The demon retreats to the only other open area.

His heart.

He hears himself scream even louder, until his voice cracks and he can feel blood rise. He slams his forehead to the ground as blood, his blood, spumed from his mouth. He feels his heart beat so fast he thinks it might explode, maybe it does.

Then everything goes black, and he's inside himself. Everything surrounding him was black except for a glow far down the center of his view. He walks towards it and with each step his fear rises. Is he dead? Did the hunters kill him? Did the demon?

He arrives at the distant light and sees a small purple orb floating in the air. He puts his right hand through it and it explodes. The purple mist surrounds his entire arm and from it the shadow of the demon appears.

_You have a strong will, elf_, it said. Its voice was low and dark, and it echoed around him, _I may not be able to control your mind, but I can take control of your life_.

"What are you-"he tried to ask but the mist around his arm grew solid and he could feel power swarm inside of him.

_I hunger_, the demon said, _If you want to live you will feed me_.

He wakes up then, but his vision is clouded by a purple mist. He hears the Keeper call for him, but he cannot speak. He opens his mouth, but instead of words he hears a deep growl.

_Feed me_.

The purple mist grew thicker in front of his eyes and he felt the mist start to emerge from his right arm. He heard those around him suck in a breath and step further away from him. He felt his body slowly start to rise. The demon was controlling his body, but his mind was still his own. He started to sweat as he felt his heart start beating slower and slower. He was dying.

_Feed_

_Me_

His body charged towards the nearest hunter and slammed them to the ground. He heard the hunter scream as he covered their face with his right hand. He watched as the mist seeped into the hunter's ears, nose, mouth, and eyes. The hunter screamed and squirmed under his body. The hunter's hands came to grasp his wrist trying to squeeze him off; a failed attempt.

The mist started to return to his arm and he felt the body under him _shrinking_. He saw the skin of the hands holding his wrist start to deflate, until he could clearly make out the bones of the fingers. He watched the skin continue to deflate from the hunters arms, and he felt under his hands the hunters face grow smaller. The mist removed itself fully from the hunter and returned to him. He slowly stood up and looked down at the body. The armor sunk down where it should have met muscle. The hands, arms, and legs were now literally skin and bone.

The face…oh Creators the face. The mouth hanged open in a silent never ending scream. The teeth seemed to phase through whatever was left of the lips. The tongue was completely dried up, gone. The eyes were completely open. They bulged out of their sockets, and the irises looked up him.

He wanted to vomit when he felt that his heart still beat so slowly. It wasn't over yet.

_More_

He hears the hunters call him an Era'harel as they start to charge, but the Keeper stops them and yells at them to retreat and protect the camp. They ran to the cave entrance, but the demon outstretched his right arm towards the entrance and the purple mist shot out blocking their escape. The hunters screamed as the barrier of mist shot out to each, sucking the life from them. When the mist was done it slivered back to his arm returning the power. He felt his heart start beating faster, but it was still not enough.

_I want blood_.

He clenched his jaw as a burning pain raged against his right arm. He watched the muscles in his arm start to bulge-ripping off the sleeve of his shirt. He watched as his hand started to grow and his fingers become longer; with the ends of them turning into sharp points.

_The mage_.

His body turns slowly to face the Keeper. The Keeper says some ancient words and magic shoots out of the staff towards him. His transformed arm stretches, palm facing the incoming blow, and _absorbs_ it. The magic swirls inside his body as he hears the demon laugh within. Palm still facing the Keeper, the magic shot out. The magic increased two times the original damage and it struck the Keeper. The Keeper fell on his back hard and he was soon next to him. He lifted the Keeper up with his normal hand.

"I'm sorry," the Keeper says looking down at his purple mist filled eyes. The Keeper was not scared, was not angry. The Keeper looked at him with regret.

"Me too," he said finally making words, but it was not his voice that came out. He watched as his right hand sliced up into the Keepers neck. His pointed fingers came through the Keepers cheeks and nose. He watched as the Keeper's eyes roll back and his blood swirled his entire body. His hand was not removed until the demon sucked the Keeper dry. The demon tossed the body away freeing his hand. He felt his arm and hand begin to return to normal and the mist fade from his eyes and arm. He lifts his right hand to where his heart lied, it was beating normally now. Hand still on his chest he looked around at the massacre. What has he become?

_An Era'harel_, the demon laughed.

That's when Lin woke up soaked in cold sweat. He must have screamed too because Keeper Marethari was kneeling beside him inside his tent. He retold everything to her as she placed soothing magic against his forehead. Her eyes and lips fell in concern, but not hatred. She did not kick him out. He asked the Keeper if he could set his tent away from the camp, outside the safe circle. He didn't want to endanger everyone else. The Keeper allowed it, but she still wanted him close. She cared for him too much and it _hurt_.

Today the Keeper had a task for him. She had a plan that would help him control the demons' hunger. When the clan first arrived here she sent small groups of hunters to scout the area. One group came back with alarming, and interesting news. They said they came to a large opening that had a waterfall. They went up to the waterfall and saw a hollow entrance behind it, a cave. They decided to enter the cave, and after some time they saw glowing stones embedded in the walls. The oldest of the hunters told the Keeper that she believed it was lyrium-_pure_ lyrium. However when the group tried to go further a group of creatures appeared and started to attack. The hunters ran out for they said the creatures were of the likes they've never seen. The Keeper told the group to never go back there. They gave her the drawn map.

She told him the cave is about a week travel from the camp. She believes with the right amount she can create an item that will help him take more control of the hunger. He accepted the task, but requested that he would go alone. This mission was his alone. The Keeper was reluctant at first, but the look in his eyes swayed her mind.

He was in is tent putting on his armor and readying his sword. He was the only one in camp who fought with one sword. He remembers the day Ilen was training him. He was _horrible_ with a bow. It seemed like he always missed his target by miles. He almost hit a harmless fellow elf. He never touched a bow after that day. Ilen praised him on his skills with a sword and shield. He said it was the best performance he has seen in a long time.

Lin felt like he was cluttered though, so he decided to get rid of the shield and keep his right hand free. When Ilen asked why he said he preferred keeping his right hand open for quick use of his powers. Ilen understood, but insisted on testing his strength. The duel ended very quickly in Lin's favor.

He readied some herbs, potions, and bandages in his belt satchels. He sheathed his sword and felt assured by the weight on his side. Lastly he pulled on his black cloak. It is the same cloak that Riley gave him to fight off the chill. It's been mended to fit his now taller frame.

_Riley_.

Lin sighs as he leaves his tent. He knows she'll arrive at camp soon and he'll be long gone. She'll wonder where he's went and try to go after him, but the Keeper will hold her back. She'll reassure the human that he'll be fine and she'll send word once he returns. At least, that's what he hopes will happen.

Riley hasn't seen what he looks like when his power is activated, and he hasn't told her about anything he's learned of his past. He doesn't want her to know and see just how much of a monster he was. He doesn't want her to look at him with fear in her eyes; it would _ruin_ him.

It isn't easy keeping his feelings to himself. Not when she too was showing signs. It isn't any easier when he meets her family and becomes close with them. It _really_ isn't easy when he sees her without her mask. When the true Riley Hawke shows. Every attempt she makes, however, he quickly dismisses it with a light joke or a friendly flirt. He can't risk the demon hurting her; he cares for her too much. The demon wants her; wants to taste and feel her, and that _terrifies_ him.

He leaves his tent and stands in the summer air. He looks around at the camp and sees the familiar pattern of each elf's day. He sees the same elves talk to one another, and sees the newly formed relationships shyly talk with each other. Near the entrance he sees small groups of families with their small children readying themselves for the lake nearby. Today was hot and the children loved swimming in the lake. He turns straight to look at the middle of the camp and sees the Keeper looking at him. She smiles and nods at him. He returns the gesture then turns and starts on his journey.

He enjoys the summer. The ground is covered with dark green grass and various colors of flowers. The tall trees overhead are dressed with dark and light colored leaves. The trees give him a shaded path so the hot sun does not burn his skin.

Much better then winter, he thinks. He will, however, never hate the season. Not when it was the season they meet. Riley loved the winter. She says she loves how the world can look so pure with a clean white blanket on top of it. She loves to run in the unmark snow and claim that area as hers. She makes stories out of every footprint she sees.

"Hey!" He hears a familiar voice yell.

_Speaking of Riley…_ Lin sighs then looks up in the trees, and there she was. She was crouching on a tree branch that was very high up. Her hands were in front of her grabbing the branch. She's smiling down at him, blue eyes bright against her black mask.

_Monkey_, he hears the demon say and he has to choke back a surprised laugh.

_You joke now? Demons do that?_, he thinks back to it. He gets no reply.

He watches Riley jump down tree branch to tree branch until she lands in front of him. She's wearing short leather trousers that were a dark blue color. She has a dark brown leather belt on that had a number of small satchels just like him. Her feet and calves are covered by a pair of tall black boots. The top side of her is covered in a tight brown leather top with two thick straps covering the middle of her shoulders. She has metal armored gloves on both hands that came half way up her forearm, and small rounded metal plates protecting her elbows. He looks up at her face and sees her smiling sheepishly at him admiring her attire. He hears the demon growl and quickly looks down to his side. He could feel the faint blush on his cheeks and ears. He hears her sigh and walk towards him.

"I didn't expect to see you here," he says to the ground.

"I can tell," she says with a faint laugh. He sees her feet as she comes to stand in front of him. Her hand comes up to his cheek and she pushes up making him look at her, "Why didn't you ask me?" He looks her in the eyes for a moment getting lost in the blue.

"This is my own task, Hawke. I don't want you in danger."

"I like danger," she says with a smile. Her face turns more serious as she starts to stroke the black lines on his face with her thumb, "You don't have to go through anything alone anymore, Lin."

"I know that, but," he closes his eyes and leans into her touch. He sighs quietly, "I can't risk it. Not when _I_ could be the danger."

"Key word: could," she says. She brings her other hand to his face now. She holds his face gently while she stares into his eyes, "Since you've arrived you have not attacked the camp once. I haven't even seen you-"

"That's right," he says cutting her off. He grabs the wrists of her hands and pulls them down between them, "And I never want you to." They don't talk for a few beats. They just stand there, her wrists in his hands.

"Well I'm not going anywhere," she says then smiles at him, "Besides I've spent _three_ hours looking for you. I'm not letting that time go to waste."

"How'd you even know where I'd be?" he asks knowing the answer. She doesn't reply either. Instead she raises an eyebrow up silently questioning him who he thinks told her. He sighs, "What about your family? And school? I'm sure your parents wouldn't let you take a week off."

"They wouldn't," she says as a big grin forms on her face, causing to show teeth, "But it's a holiday." He grunts and brings his hand to his forehead. He forgot about the holiday. Her people called it Annum, all soul's day. Her town's chantry takes off for the entire month to honor the dead of the First Blight. She told him she would be spending half of the time with the clan and the rest with her family.

She hates the holiday, he remembers her telling him. She didn't understand why we still had to be sad for the people who died centuries ago, and he understood.

He hears her laugh then she starts pulling on his arm, "Come on then. I'm interested in seeing this place."

"Oh are you?" he says rolling his eyes, but he lets her pull him forward.

"Oh yes! Big scary monsters are my favorite! Let's go before we miss them!"

"I'm sure they'll still be there, Riley."

"It's Hawke with the mask remember?" she says trying to look at him sternly, but it fails and instead winks at him, "You're lucky you're my friend. Otherwise I'd slap you, but if the monsters aren't there I will slap you for lying to me."

He laughs, "Yes ma'am." They continue walking, hand in hand, into the depths of the forest.

The week travel seemed to go by in a flash. When he told Riley this she laughed at him and told him it was because they were having fun. He had to agree he was enjoying the time with her. He enjoys the talks that they have while they walked. He laughs at all her jokes and his heart skips when she laughs at his, very, bad jokes. He enjoys watching her become childishly bored on their long walks. When this happens she runs ahead of him towards a tree. She jumps on the tree and starts to climb-fast. He watches her jump from tree branch to tree branch to another tree as he walks under her.

He _loves_ the nights they spend together. He loves the long and deep conversations they have around the fire. He loves her attempt at scaring him with her wild tales. They may work on Merrill, but not on him he told her. One night he sneaks away from camp while she sleeps because the demons hunger called. He scouted the night searching for sleeping deers, bears, wolves, etc.

What he didn't know was that she had followed him in the shadows. She had watched as the purple mist fell from his arm and surrounded his eyes. She watched as he drained each creature he came across until the demon was satisfied. When the mist starts to recede she quickly runs in the shadows to the campsite and fakes a sleep. He never noticed a thing.

One night is chilly, too chilly for a summer night. Riley was well underdressed and was shivering by the fire. He offered to give her his cloak, and she refused. Then, she gave him a coy smile. With a questioning brow he watched as she walked to him, kicked his legs apart, and nestled there. Her back was against his chest, her legs crossed at the ankles, and her head under his chin. The demon growled as he looked at her long uncovered legs. The demon stirred when he looked down and saw the cleavage of Riley's chest. He moved his body, trying to get more comfortable against the bark of the tree, and trying to ignore the demons and his own desires. She looked up at him when he finished moving. The top of her head against his chest; leaving her long neck exposed to the night. She smiled at him with her blue eyes shining with trust and a hint of lust. His mind kept reminding him of his own words. How he would not act on his feelings. Being reminded by the demon how badly it wanted her. How he could _not_ hurt her, but looking down at her now…

_Oh, screw it_, he says in his mind. He refuses to take her now though. He would never take her unless she was one hundred percent sure. Instead, he lifted an index finger to the tip of her chin and gently traced down the length of her throat down to her cleavage; pausing there. She shivered under his touch and her eyes closed. He smiled down at her and kissed her.

The next night they lay in the same position. It is this night, her against his body and his arms wrapped around her waist, that she tells her she watched him. He was confused at first, but when he looked down at her face he _knew_. Suddenly fear washed up inside of him and it must have showed on his face for she smiled up at him and placed a hand against his cheek. She told him she was not afraid of him. She said she would never be afraid of him and for him to stop worrying. Relief filled his body and he moved their bodies so that she was laying on the warm grass and he was leaning over her. They kissed passionately while their hands explored the others body. They stayed on top of the clothes though; he told her not yet and she, grumbly, agreed.

On the last night while they ate their dinner he questions her why time puts on the illusion of going fast when it's fun, and she smiled sadly at him with no answer.

It was midday on the seventh day. The two of them were following up a river that the map showed. They came to a part where the river seemed to be cut off by numerous trees and shrubs. They cut through the tightly close shrubs and trees to the other side, and they both stood with held breathes.

"This is _beautiful_," Riley said in a hushed tone. She's right, it _is_ beautiful. From where they stood they see a magnificent waterfall falling down the middle of the mountain behind it. The waterfall was the rivers source of water, and from the mist of water at the bottom of it showed a faint rainbow when the sun shined on it. The edges of the river on both sides were lined with different types of flowers. Various insects flew to each flower sucking its nectar. They also saw a variety of small creatures running around on both sides. It all seemed so peaceful.

"So you're telling me that there's a spooky cave filled with pure lyrium that people would _kill_ over behind all of this?" Riley said motioning with her palm to the area and looking at him with disbelief.

"_I_ didn't tell you that. This is what the Keeper told me."

"Well I think she has lost her mind," she says shaking her head, "Staying in the woods all your life can make your cr-a-zy."

"And the perfect example is standing right in front of me."

"Shut up." She smacked his shoulder and he laughed as he rubbed his now throbbing shoulder. They both walk up to the side of the waterfall and see a narrow stone path leading up into a dark hole.

"Well this doesn't look suspicious at all," she muttered under her breath. They both slowly made their way up the slick narrow path and stood in front of the entrance. They look to one another, nod, then head straight into the cave.

They walk straight until their waterfall light source becomes a small dim circle. He was about to light a torch, but a few more steps and they see a faint blue glow against stone. They walk closer and when they get to the area they see veins of lyrium going up and down in swirls in the stone. There were also solid pieces of lyrium on the ground shaped like shards. He told Riley to stand back as he walked to the shards. He summons a small hint of purple mist to surround his hand so that he was safe to touch the raw lyrium. He breaks apart small parts of the larger shard and places the pieces in the small black leather sack the Keeper gave him. He places the sack into one of his pouches then turns to Riley telling her they can now leave. She isn't looking at him though, instead she stares further down the cave lined with lyrium.

"Hawke?"

"I want to go further down," she says looking at him.

"What?"

"You heard me," she says and looks back down the continued path, "Yes we got what you need, but what if there's more down there. Like _treasure_," she said and he saw that sparkle in her eyes that happens when she's jumping the trees, "Besides, I haven't seen any of these 'monsters'."

"Hawke I don't think that's-"

"Yes, yes I know. 'Hawke those creatures could be too dangerous and what if there isn't any treasure'," she says trying to mimic his voice. He lifts a brow at her and she sighs, "Look let's just take a quick look, alright? I feel like there's something just a bit further down. If there isn't anything within the first ten minutes we'll turn around and head back."

Lin sighs and shakes his head knowing there was no way he would win this. So instead he motions his hand for her to lead the way and she smiles at him. The cave starts to dip down as they continue their walk. They trace the lyrium veins imbedded in the stone with their eyes; admiring their form. At the end they come across two large stonr doors, and he looks at her with concern.

"Ten minutes isn't up yet," she says with a smile and shrug. He sighs and puts a hand against a door. She comes next to him and places her hand on the other door. With a nod they push on their doors at the same time and stood in awe. They stood in a giant cavern where the ceiling had a large circular hole in the center that allowed a large amount of sun light to pour in. The high stone walls had carvings of dwarven people holding a sword in front of them. They look down and in the center of the sunlight there was a crystal blue sword stuck in the floor. Surrounding the sword was a variety of jewels.

"What did I tell ya?" Riley says looking at him with a big smile. She starts to head down the large stairs beneath and he follows right behind her.

_Something is wrong here_, the demon said to him and he shivers. He comes up behind Riley who was already stuffing necklaces, rings, bracelets, gold, pretty much anything into all of her pouches. He, who should be doing the same, stares at the sword. He walks to it and sees Riley stand in the corner of his vision. He reaches out for the gleaming sword with his left hand and grabs the hilt. He gives two deep breathes then pulls, and the sword slips right out of the stone floor. He holds the sword up in the air admiring the sunlight shining through it. He hears Riley whistle next to him.

"That is one _pretty_ weapon," she says and he nods. Suddenly the ground beneath them starts to shake and little pebbles of stone fell from the statues. All around them dusty bones came together to form the figure they once were.

"And here are the monsters!" Riley yells reaching for her daggers. Lin himself uses the new sword and they stand back to back. They watch as the monsters form into skeletons. Some of them were bare with no weapons or armor, others had no armor but held weapons, and then there were ones who had both. They charged at the groups in front of them. Each slice they hit the skeletons fell with their bones clanging on the floor. The fight went on for five minutes and they thought they have won as they sliced down their last foes. Just when they thought they were safe, more bones started to meet together and form more of them.

"_Maker_," Lin hears Riley breath and he agrees with her. How many of these rounds will they have to face? This time the fight lasts over ten minutes and he can feel himself start to grow weak. He watches as Riley falls her last enemy with a grin. Then he hears _more_ bones skitter across the ground.

_Creators_, he can't take much more. He can already feel his heart start to beat deathly slow as the mist poured from his arm and eyes. There is nothing for the demon to feast on here. Their enemies were just bones; no skin, no blood.

He looks over at Riley and time seems to slow down. He watches as she strides towards him with full determination on her face. She comes right up to his body, wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him forcefully on the mouth. He is shocked, but the demon cause his mouth growl.

"Riley-"

"Take it," she says staring straight into his mist filled eyes. The demon complies and his lips crush against hers. There they stand kissing, licking, and biting as the mist swirled around them. He felt the power return to him as he kissed her. He started to feel her arms grow weak against their hold on his neck and he holds her waist with his left arm forcing her to stay. When he started to feel her knees buckle that's when he willed the demon to stop its feast, and _somehow_ it worked. The mist retreats from her and swirls around his right arm. He breaks the kiss, but continues to hold her for she can no longer stand on her own. She looks _pale_ and it makes him sick. His worries retreat though when he sees her motioning her head to what was around them. He looks and sees that the next group of skeletons were practically completed and started walking towards them.

_This is it_, the demon tells him. Lin switches the sword from his left hand to his right and holds it up in the air. The mist shot up the sword and swirled around it hastily, then sparks of it shot from the sword into each skeleton until they all fell. They stood there for another five minutes waiting to see if another wave would come; none did. The mist fades from his body and he drops his arm to his side. He looks down at Riley and sees her eyes begin to droop.

"Are you alright, Riley?" Lin asks her with his voice practically drenched in concern.

"Yeah…yeah," she says slowly looking at his neck. Slowly she looks up at him and he nearly flinches for how white her eyes looked, "I just need to rest for a bit." He nods and drops the sword on the ground so he could sweep her up in his arms. He walks over to a stone wall and slides down it. He shifts her body so that she lay against him like their camp nights. She gives a sigh and instantly falls into a quiet sleep. He runs his hand from the top of her head to the bottom her long black braid then back up.

_There must be something I can do for her_, he thinks. An idea comes to his mind and he reaches down into the pouch that carried the sack of lyrium shards. He then searches Riley's pouches and emerges with two identical silver chained necklaces that had a small tear drop shaped stone hanging from each. He first tests on himself. He wills a small amount of mist to form in his hand as he picked out a small lyrium shard.

_Don't tell me you're using me to make jewelry_, the demon barked at him.

_Special jewelry_, he replies. He can tell the demon wanted to make another comment, but it dropped silent as it saw what he was doing. With the lyrium shard in his mist hand he held it close to his heart.

_I want you to take a small portion of my life and put it in this shard_, he tells the demon. At first nothing happens, then he sees a very small, thin white line, emerge from where his heart was into the shard. The shard swirled with dark blue and white until it rested at a light blue color. He then holds the shard against the middle of the tear drop and uses the mist to imbed the shard into the stone. The tear drop becomes warm against his other palm with the shard imbedded in it, and he smiles. It works. He lets the necklace slip down his wrist as he readies the other one. Again, he takes another shard out and places it near Riley's heart.

_Again please_, he says to the demon. He watches as the same white line that came from him leaves her body near her heart and into the shard. He holds the now clear blue shard against the other tear drop and the mist starts to imbed it in. Afterwards, the tear drop grew _hot_ in his hand. It really does work.

_Thank you_, he says to the demon as the mist disappears. He takes the necklace with her small life in it and clips it around his neck. The necklace hangs down to the middle of his chest and he feels the stone burn against his skin. The longer Riley rested, gaining more of her energy, the cooler the stone got until it was the same warm temperature as the other stone. After thirty minutes he feels Riley start to squirm. Slowly she opens her eyes and blinks a few times. She looks around at her surroundings then sits with her back straight and stretches her arms into the air.

"Good nap?" He asks. She turns her head to look at him and is relieved to see her dark blue eyes return.

"Very," she says with a smile.

"Good. Now turn your head back around and close your eyes." She gives him a puzzling look, but obeys. He removes the hidden necklace, puts it around her neck and clasps the ends together, "Alright, you can look now." He watches as her head hangs low and her left hand comes to hold the stone. She spins her body around to face him and he sees that the necklace also hangs to her chest.

"It's…warm?" She asks.

"Yes, let me explain," he then removes his own necklace from under his armor and shows it to her, "I took a _very_ small piece of our life force and placed it instead the lyrium shards. I have part of your life and you have part of mine. When the stone is warm like this it means we are both ok. When the stone grows hotter it means that the other is in danger. And when it grows cold….well," he says not needing to finish when he saw her understanding.

"It's beautiful, Lin. Thank you," she said smiling down at it.

"You're welcome," he says, "Now if you're alright, I would like to get out of this cave as soon as possible."

She laughs at him, "Agreed." The both stand up and he walks over to the sword he dropped. If he left with anything in this room it would be this. It felt _good_ in his hand. A very light weapon, but he felt the strength within. He straps it onto his back and looks to Riley holding out his hand. She grasps it and gives it a small squeeze as they leave the cave together.

~.~

The Keeper's plan worked. When Lin and Riley returned he gave the Keeper the little sack of lyrium shards. She thanked the both of them, and retreated into her aravel. Three days later Keeper Marethari comes to his tent. She tells him to hold out his right hand and she places a ring on his right ring finger. The ring is thin and made of sylvanwood. Imbedded in the ring are tiny blue gems that circled the entire ring. Confused, he made a joke about the human marriage custom and she laughed. She puts the tip of her index finger against the ring, and the gems begin to give a faint glow. It's then that he realizes that the gems are actually lyrium. Keeper Marethari said that she decreased the lyriums' effect greatly so that it could be worn. She said the power of lyrium could help him control how much the demon takes. The lyrium would be extra power, thus making the demon want to take less. The Keeper told him she had to train him on how to properly use lyrium, and said he is not allowed to hunt until he can control it.

They train for months. He had not expected this little amount of lyrium to be so challenging. The Keeper explained that it was because he possessed no magical talents besides what the demon gave him. Lyrium cooperates better when the body itself is connected to the fade. For the first week it seems the lyrium takes energy from him; forcing him to feed more. The Keeper told him to meditate for some time. She wanted him to find the small connection of the fade that his demon possessed. It takes a while, but eventually he finds it. From there things go more smoothly. He now feeds and hungers less.

Riley is with him every step of the way. Lin knows that without her confidence in him it would have taken _much_ longer. After dark she would use her own…training tactics. Telling him to take control as she kisses and touches him. It was _torture_, but he feels like it helped. A great deal. The demon didn't even make a noise anymore. Their relationship grew "closer" with her training. So close that they began to hug and flirt in public. Their friends came up to them one night asking if they were together. They looked each other in the eyes, smiled, and turned back to their friends and in unison say, "No."

Without even discussing it, they both knew that a relationship between them would not work. First off, the clan may like Riley, but in the end tradition wins. They knew that. Second, the clan would not be camped here forever. They would have to move once the wild life became scarce, or when they started attracting too many human eyes. Riley did her best with keeping straggles from her village out, but there's nothing she can do about nature. So they continue to flirt and hug, with the occasional kiss or two in the dark.

At this moment, Lin sits outside of his little camp area. He is waiting for his friends: Lyna, Tamlen, and Fenarel, to come by for a hunt. He waits patiently. He watches the clan move as he spins the ring on his finger between his thumb and pinkie. A new habit he picked up. They show up, and he notices the lingering fingers between Lyna and Tamlen. He smiles at them. It would seem him and Riley were not the only ones to act on their feelings. Though they hid more while Lyna and Tamlen could openly do it. He felt a hint of envy by it, but quickly dismissed it.

The group walk together into the forest. They find a small pack of wolves that they dispatched quickly. As they start to skin the wolves a nearby bear must have smelled the blood for one came roaring from the trees. The bear was _big_, likely because it was filling itself up for the upcoming winter. The bear takes a while to take down. So long that he almost doesn't feel the small burning sensation against his chest.

Almost.

The group breathes heavily after the bear is killed. Tamlen and Fenarel are leaning against the bark of a tree. Lyna is bent slightly with her head down and hands on her knee caps. Lin stands in front of the dead bear placing his hand over where the burning stone rested under his armor. He stands completely still. Lyna seems to sense his distraught and comes to stand next to him.

"Lin? What's wrong?" Lyna asks. Tamlen and Fenarel pause in their breathing as well, finally noticing his discomfort. He doesn't reply for a long moment, still shocked by what was happening. Then, he slowly turns his head to Lyna and his eyes are strained in worry…and anger.

"Riley's in danger."


	3. Chapter 3: Capture

**WARNING: TRIGGER WARNING FOR RAPE VICTIMS**

**Chapter Updated: 11/23/2015** (A change in the girl's look)

* * *

Riley was enjoying a nice stroll through the forest. Loving the way the dry leaves sounded under her feet. An autumn breeze blew by making her long braid flow with it, and the cold sent a shiver through her body.

Oh Maker, she loved this weather. Her thoughts drifted to the late autumn night she met Lin and she smiles. Just then, she hears a commotion coming from the nearby dirt path. Most likely slavers again; braving the path she "claimed" as her own.

_Good_, she thinks, _haven't seen much action lately_.

She climbs up a naked tree and looks for still covered trees to jump to. She makes it to the path and looks down at the scene. There was a blond haired human girl on her knees. She looked up with fearful hazel eyes at the two armed men in front of her.

"Blond hair? That's not very common here," Riley whispers to herself.

The men were giving the girl that…smile, and they talked about things that they would do to her. Riley was disgusted. She had to help the girl, but something didn't feel right. First, it's usually an elf being tormented. Second, only two guys? Not uh.

Riley squints down around her. She looks in the shadows, the brown colored leaves, and the still green shrubs. She looked and stared for several minutes, but saw nothing. With a shrug she was about to jump down, but then saw movement to her right. A foot. A foot that quickly retreated back behind a tree. They knew she was here, but they didn't know where. Even in daylight she can hide in the shadows with ease. Riley gives a smile to the foot tree.

"If they want a fight, I'll give them one." Riley jumps down from the tall tree and rushes behind the two men. With her shadow still covering her she quickly draws her daggers and places one of each against their necks. Before they could even turn around she slide the daggers. Blood spurts from their open necks; raining down onto to the ground. The girl became ghostly pale and just stared at the bodies of the men.

"You alright?" Riley asks. She bends down in front of the girl, and hears an arrow zip by in between them. The arrow head skimmed the bridge of Riley's nose, causing a thin red line to form.

"Well somebody's impatient," she says standing up and turning her back to the girl. She watches as groups of slavers start to leave their hiding spots. She smirks then charges with daggers raised. She goes for the archers first. She zig-zags between the shots of arrows and stabs them in the heart. Each one she kills she holds the dead body against her so that the other arrows hit that instead. She does this with each archer, then turns her attention to the charging warriors. Spin, duck, and slice. She repeats this process as they surround her. Spin..duck..slice!

She stands breathing heavily as the last of them fell. She has multiple cuts along her thighs and arms. The most painfully were the gashes on her stomach and across her chest. She looks around thinking that she has won, but is then greeted with more warriors scurrying from the forest.

_Shit_. She is in no condition to fight another horde, but her brain comes up with a brilliant plan that causes her to smile. She can't win, but she can help out her rescue team. Riley fights the next group as best as she can. Dancing around them as she slams her boots into the ground, making marks. She is surprised that even in her weak state she still took down quite of few. _Amateurs_, she thinks.

As she goes to kill the last one she feels someone grab her braid and _yank_. She grunts in pain as her head springs back and she falls to her knees. The hair grabber used his other hand to hold her wrists together behind her back, causing her daggers to fall.

"How can you be a good rouge if you can't sense your own?" The hair grabber asks. Her heart sinks at her stupidity. She should have wondered why there was nothing but warrior after warrior. This bastard was circling them as they fought waiting for the chance to strike. He pulls her hair more so that she's forced to look up at him. He has short brown hair and deadly brown eyes. He gives her a smug smile as his eyes travel down her throat and to her chest. With her in this position and her armor sliced at the top of her chest, you could see the slightest of her cleavage.

"Seems like we cut you up pretty good. Maybe too good," the man says, "The boss likes his merchandise as perfect as possible." Wait…they were _that_ kind of slavers. That would explain why the blond haired girl was barely scratched.

_Shit, I'm sorry mother_, Riley thinks to herself. The man lifts her to her feet and pulls her arms over her head so that her hands rested in front of her. Still holding her wrists the man takes out iron cuffs from his belt and places them on her. The cuffs were tight, but not too tight. There was a very small gap from her wrist to the cuffs.

"Everyone out, now!" The man barks to the trees. She sees more warriors come out as well as archers. Good thing she stopped when she did. An archer goes up to the blond hair girl and places the same iron cuffs on her small wrists. The girl stands and Riley sees that she's covered in dirt.

"Looks like you'll need a clean bath, won't you girl?" The archer says to her. Riley sees a flash of fear across the girls' face that quickly vanishes as she nods. So she was the bait.

"Let's move!" The hair grabber says. He then looks at her with that same smug smile, "I want this one back before dark." His look made Riley shiver in fear. As they walk she takes a quick peak behind her and sees on the ground her foot work. She gives a small smile.

_Hope this necklace works_.

~.~

They didn't bag her head, blindfold her, or even keep a good amount of guards around her as they walked. They're either very confident, or really stupid. _Probably stupid_, Riley thinks. She memorizes the paths they take in the forest. When they end up at the hidden wooden door embedded in stone, she recognizes the area. She remembers walking through here with Lin. How in the Marker's name did they not see this? The door wasn't _that_ well hidden. It's true they weren't always paying attention on their walks. They always ended up doing…other things.

Now Riley's angry at themselves for not being more careful. She's _pissed_, and a slight embarrassed, at knowing that these people could've been watching them for a while. She's also _terrified_ with how close their operation was to the clan. The hair grabber opens the door and they descent down into the earth.

The walls had rows of long stick candles in deep holders that dimly light the path. They come across some cells and one of the slavers puts the blond hair girl in one. One slaver stays behind with the girl and the rest follow Riley and the hair grabber. They walk down a long hallway with numerous wooden doors also embedded in the stone. While they walked the rest of the slavers retreated in the doors, soon only leaving her and the hair grabber. He takes her down the hall that leads to a set of stone stairs. He opens the door at the top and it opens to a large area. The area looked like the original cave with some added doors on the sides that probably lead to more hallways and cells. The area was decorated like a grand entrance way. There was a long red carpet going down the center of it. There were scattered tables at one end of the carpet where some slavers sat watching her. At the other end of the carpet was another door, but this one was larger giving it that intimidation feel.

_Guess that's where the boss is_, Riley thinks. Sure enough the hair grabber leads her to the door, opens it, pushes her inside then slowly closes the door.

The room looks like it belongs in a master chamber of a castle. The same stone floor had a large red circular carpet. This carpet was decorated with golden vine swirls around the edge. Resting on the center of the carpet was a long wooden table with no chairs around it. There was a large bed in the far left corner next to a stone fireplace. In front of the fireplace stood a man with his back towards them.

"As you requested, sir," the hair grabber said. The man turned and looked at her with cold eyes and a devil smile. This man had short black hair that had strips of grey running through it. His left eye was dark brown and the right eye was white. The right side of this face had a long scar from the tip of his forehead, over-or through-his eye, then curved down to the line of his jaw.

"Good work, Keller. I knew I could trust you to get her," the man says as he walks to them. He stops in front of her and looks her up and down—slowly, "She's a bit ripped up, however."

"She put up quite a fight. Though, I'm sure you expected this," Keller said with a smile.

"Of course," the man said giving her that devil smile that made her shiver in fear. He puts two fingers against the middle of her chest cut. He pushes down a she winces as a new blood emerges over the dry, "The wounds are deeper than they look," the man says and rubs her blood between his fingers. He turns around and heads to the end of the table nearest the stone fireplace, "Take off her shirt and bring her over here."

Keller smiles and stands behind her. She feels his fingers on her back as he unbuckles her chest piece. Once it fell to the floor he put his hands under her shirt to touch her back. He _slowly_ moves his rough hands from her back to her sides and it takes all her willpower to not cringe under his touch. Both of his hands grab the side of her undershirt and he lifts up, forcing her arms up. She shivered at the coldness of the room despite the fire.

"Nice," she hears Keller whisper in her ear. His hands start to slowly trace up the length of her side. _By the Maker-_

"Enough, Keller," says the boss, "You can have your fun later. Bring her over so I can treat her wounds." Riley _really_ didn't like the way he said treat. Keller pushes her back so that she starts walking to the boss. He tells her to lay down on her back and she doesn't at first, but then she feels some sort of power come over her body that forces her to lay down. _What the-_ Riley looks up at the boss and sees no expression. A poker face he wore.

Keller takes hold of her cuffed wrists and places them over her head so that they're in front of the boss. He holds her wrists until the boss takes the clamp hidden behind the table and hooks it between the cuffs, forcing her hands to remain there. Then the boss goes to her left side and Keller remains at her right. They both bend down and revel two ends of a belt that was also hidden under the table. They strap it across her lower waist and pull both ends till it's tight.

_Never thought this stuff actually happens to people_, Riley thinks to herself. She closes her eyes and breathes in, _Oh Maker, please…please help me. Help Lin_. She opens her eyes and sees the two men staring at her.

"Praying were we?" Keller says in a mocking tone.

"Surprised you even know the word," she says back. His hand rushes to her throat squeezing the slightest. He leans in so close to her face their noses' almost touch.

"You're not in the position to be making back talks, girl," he whispers deadly to her face. She looks straight into his cold dead eyes with confidence.

"If that little threat is supposed to scare me then you'll be sadly mistaken," she says then gives him a crooked smile, "Right now the only thing scaring me is your _breath_." He slaps her hard and the boss laughs.

"My my, she is a spiteful one," the man says. He comes up to her head and grabs her chin forcing her to look at him, "Let's get rid of that dumb make-up." Keller leaves for a second so he could hand the man a damp cloth. Riley shuts her eyes tight as the man rubs the cloth harshly over her face. By the time he's done it feels like her face is on fire. She opens her eyes and sees the boss looking down at her, "Much better," he says with a sick smile. He then moves down the table to where her stomach lied. Again, he puts two finger against the middle of her cut and presses down. And, again, she winces at the pain as a new small flow of blood seeped through.

She hears the man tsk under his breath, "I was hopping your skin would be perfect, but after that little show I wouldn't mind if you received a few scars." He lifts up his left palm and it starts to glow blue. Magic? He was a mage? He places his hand over the start of the wound nearest him, and Riley expects the same cool touch she gets when her father or sister heals her.

Maker, was she _wrong_.

Her skin felt like it was on _fire_. She tries to lift herself up to get away from the pain, but is stopped by the damned belt across her. She throws her head back as he slowly starts to move the length of the cut. This isn't healing magic! She couldn't feel new skin cells forming to cover the wound. Instead, she felt her old skin _stretching_ to the other side of the cut, forcing it to close. The wound under the stretched skin was not healed; it remained hallow under it. She thinks she starts to whimper when that burning hand reaches the middle of her stomach; the flesh there much too tender. Finally, he reaches the end of the line and she's panting—sweating. She knows if she looks at her stomach she will see a long dark line across her pale flesh.

"Now to the next one…" Keller moves her necklace as the mage slowly moved his fingertips up the middle of her stomach. His touch makes her muscles tense and shudder, causing him to smile. His fingers become even _slower_ as they move to her breast band. He drags a finger up the middle and his other fingers became spread out so that they touched her covered breasts. Her body involuntarily shudders again and his palm comes to rest at the start of her chest cut.

The pain is so much more painfully here. Instead of more skin and fat it's just skin and bone. Again, she feels her broken skin stretching and this time she screams. She screamed and squirmed so much that Keller had to stuff her mouth and hold down her legs—which he _greatly_ enjoyed.

By the time the mage is done she's drenched; like she just got out of the bath. Her mouth and throat are dry from the lack of moisture and her hoarse screaming. She feels her eyes go behind her head about to pass out, but tries to breathe so she can stay awake. She doesn't, _cannot_, pass out with these men near her. Keller removed his hands from her legs and the mage removed the cloth from her mouth. She quickly closes and wills her tongue to make some kind of moisture to sooth her acing throat.

The mage grabs her chin and makes her look at him, "Are you broken, pet?" He looks at her with triumph.

She snorts and says hoarsely, "Not even close."

His look changes from triumph into—_pleasure_, "Good. I'm nowhere near done with you yet." He lets go of her chin and looks to Keller, "Take her to her cell. And _do not_ do anything to her," the mage said those orders with the promise of death if they were to be broken, "Make sure you tell the others, too." Keller nods and starts to remove the belt around her and the clasp holding her cuffed wrists. He forces her to stand and she wills her wobbly legs to stay still. As they leave the room the mage says, "Enjoy your night, pet."

They walk down the long red carpet and make a slight left heading towards the doors they came through. She sees the same men sitting at the tables at the end, and they watch her with hungry eyes. Some of them even whistle and coo.

"Not yet boys," Keller says, "You have to wait." As they enter the door she hears grunts from the men. Her clever ears also picks up a conversation of what a man said he would do to her.

_Fucking bastards_.

They walk down the long candle lit hallway again and reach the cells. She sees the blond hair girl sitting on the floor with her knees to her chest in one cell. She looked clean. Keller opens the door to the left of the girl and pushes her in. Riley stumbles a bit but manages to brace her side against the back stone wall. Keller walks to her slowly with a devil grin and eyes.

"You're lucky he said not to do anything to you," he turns her so her back rests against the stone, "Watching you scream and squirm turned me _on_," and to prove his point he grabs her cuffed hands and puts them against his groan area, and she felt the hard lump underneath the clothes.

Oh, if _only_ she were born a mage his pants would be on fire by now.

"Maybe you should go fuck yourself," she says staring at him hard. He gives her a dark look, then brings his hand up to grab the stone hanging from her neck.

"What's this pretty little thing?" he asks and holds it up in his hand, "This from that demon? Bet it would fetch a nice price—" before he could finish she bites down on his raised hand. She bites hard enough for him to grunt in pain and withdraw from her. She feels satisfaction when she sees blood coming from her teeth marks.

"You fucking _bitch_," he slaps her hard enough for her to stumble on the floor. Then, like the name she gave him, grabs her long braid and pulls her head to face the blond girls cell, "Let me show you something that I can't wait for you to do." He drops her braid and leaves her cell locking it. He then goes to the blond girls cell and opens the door. He leaves the door open as he approaches her.

_Do they usually do that?_, Riley thinks to herself. She reminds herself to keep that little tip in mind. The man, again true his new name, grabs the top of the blond girls head and pulls her forward, forcing her to be on her knees instead of holding them.

"Take it out," he says to her and her hands automatically come up to the clasp of his belt. Riley watches as the girl unclasp the belt and unties the strings of his trousers. The girl pulls down slightly to show the man's throbbing member, "Suck," he commands and she does it.

Riley wants to look away—desperately wants to look away, but she can't. As she watches the poor girl work she prays to the Maker. She prays for the girl's life and for her own life. She clutches her stone necklace and _prays_ for Lin to show up before she becomes like that.

~.~

Lin and the group run back to camp to warn the Keeper. The Keepers' face becomes grim as Lin explains to her what has happened. She sends them and two other small hunter groups into the forest to track any sort of movement. She also sends a messenger to the village to warn Riley's family. Lin and his, and Riley's, friends head to the forest pathway. Lin believes it's the best place to start. The problem is that this path was _long_, and if you didn't have a sense of direction you wouldn't know if you were heading the right way.

The group arrive at the path and now Lin has to choose—left or right. Looking down both ways you see only more of the Wilds. Being this far down you would never know which way you came from, luckily Lin has walked this paths several times to get to Riley's family home. He also has come to know these Wilds so well that he can tell the part in it where it starts to fade into the village, and when it grows thicker leading further from the village. Lin tells the group to go left, and they do.

They walk for hours. Up until the sun is low to the ground and those beautiful dark colors merge in the sky. Lin found no comfort in them, though. He was _pissed_ that they still have not found anything. Did he pick the wrong way? No, he didn't. He _knows_ that, but still…

"Lin, STOP!" he hears Lyna yell behind him and she grabs his arm, "We're exhausted and soon we won't be able to see anything." Lin tenses under her grip knowing that she was right. But _still_. He feels Lyna hold his arm tighter, "I know how you feel. I want to find her as soon as possible, too," she chokes on her next set of words, "She's my _best_ friend, but we can't help her if we're too exhausted to fight." Lin relaxes his stance and Lyna lets go of his arm, "Let's set camp next to here. As soon as the sun comes up we'll continue."

"Yes ma'am," Lin says as he and the group head towards the edge of the path, being just out of sight from any possible pass byers. The group is silent save for Tamlen and Fenarel trying to make light conversation.

_Why are you stopping_?, the demon says to him.

_Because Lyna's right. We can't do anything if we can't see and are too tired_, he replies.

_They can't, but you can_, the demon growls at him.

_Are you actually growing feelings, demon?_ The demon replies with a threatening growl.

Lin gets _very_ little sleep that night.

~.~

Riley opens her eyes and is greeted with a dark stone ceiling. She was lying flat on her back; the stone cool against her naked skin. Slowly she tries to sit up and the pain from her stomach and chest remind her where she was. Her thoughts slowly bring up the events of last night: she was watching the hair grabber, aka Keller, force his way into the blond hair girls' mouth. She watches as he finishes inside of her mouth and tells her to swallow all of it. He hits her when some drops from her mouth. She watches as he leaves the cell and heads down the hall. She listens until she can hear no sound coming from either side of the hall. Then, she lays on her back and allows herself to pass out—hearing the blond girl sob.

Riley slowly gets to her feet and blinks her eyes so to adjust to the dim room. She looks into the girl's cell and sees her staring at Riley with big eyes. Riley takes a small step towards their interlocked walls.

"Are you ok?" Riley asks her girl. Her voice is hoarse from a still lack of moisture. The girl stares at her—dumbfounded.

"Am _I_ ok?" the girl says bewildered, "_You're_ the one with cuts and no shirt on."

"You were crying last night."

"And I bet you will too today," she says, "I've been here for a while. I _know_ what they're going to do to break you."

"You mean try to break me," Riley says as she leans her back against the stone wall.

"How are you so confident?!" the girl practically yells at her.

"I'm a fighter," Riley says and the girl looks at her with shock and shame. More gently she explains, "My father taught me how to fight. How to keep my will in check. I'm going to survive for my family and…" she stops to think of her little elf demon and smiles, "Well, I have a lot of people I care about who would be _pissed_ if I gave up so easily. I will fight for them. For as long as I can, or until they come."

"Come? You mean rescue you? You really think people are coming?" the girl asks with a small sliver of hope in her voice.

"Oh, I know they are," Riley says warmly and clutches the small teardrop stone hanging from her neck. She sees the girl start to work up a question about the jewel, but its cut short by the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. The girl looks out into the hall with fear and Riley stands straight, no longer leaning against the wall. Her cuffed hands are formed into small fists in front of her. She sees a women this time stopping at her door. She opens her cell door and walks to her. She grabs her cuffed hands and yanks.

The woman doesn't say a word as she drags Riley out. Before they leave the cell fully Riley gives the blond hair girl a reassuring nod; the girl still doesn't look convinced. Again, Riley is lead down the same candle lite hall with multiple wooden doors. They enter the same grand entrance area where there are more men sitting; eating their breakfast.

_Enjoy it_, she thinks to herself forming a small hidden smile, _I'll make sure it's your last_. The women leads her down the red carpet to the big wooden doors. They enter and again Riley sees the mage standing at the fireplace. He says his thanks to the fire, the women nods, then leaves the two alone.

"How was your night?" He asks turning to face her. The fire shadowed his body making his smile even creepier. She doesn't answer and that just makes him smile more, "You're supposed to answer someone when they ask you a question."

"My parents told me that if I have nothing nice to say then I shouldn't say anything at all," Riley replies still unmoving.

He laughs, "Doesn't seem like you follow that rule very well."

"Sometimes I do," she says. The mage gives her another grin and starts to walk towards her.

"You don't remember me do you?" he asks once he's at her.

"Maker I hope not," she says.

He grabs the stone hanging from her neck, "You took away a weapon that would have made me the _best_ slaver in the business. I would even be able to expand my business into other means," he lifts his clutched fist with the necklace in front of her face. He looks at her with fire in his eyes, "_He_ would have made me a fortune. Instead _you_ take it away and it ends up making _jewelry_ and skip through the woods like some kind of free creature."

"He _is_ free," she snarls back and he pulls on her necklace chain forcing her towards him. With her being this close to his face she starts to remember that night: he was wearing a black cloak just like her; to fend off the cold. His hood was over his head however, and she could only make the glimpse of a single white eye.

"You'll pay for what you stole, _bitch_," he says and she remembers him calling her a bitch that night too. Just like with Keller she bites down on the mages' hand. This time she refuses to let go. The mage yells as he tries to remove her mouth from his hand. Only when he places a steaming hot hand against her forehead does she let go. She sees a flow of blood drip from the mage's hand and she smiles, spitting out the blood that seeped into her mouth.

"You think you're so clever, don't you?" he asks holding his bloody hand.

"Of course," she replies still smiling. Her smile dims though when she sees the blood drowning his hand start to swirl with magic. He smiles at her look.

Of _course_ he's a blood mage! Why wouldn't he be?! Stupid, _stupid_, Riley.

She watches the blood begin to swirl faster around his hand until it disappears, and her body begins to feel like stone.

"Go sit on the bed," he commanded, and her body obeyed.

_Oh shit_. Her mind began to race as her body walked to the bed. _What_ did her father teach her about blood mages?! _Why_ didn't she pay more attention to him! Her body sits heavily on the bed and Riley watches the mage stalk towards her. He grabs her chin to force her head higher. He gives her a dangerous smile before slamming his lips against hers. She grunts and tries to keep her lips shut, but the mage bites down hard on her lower lip, forcing her to open. Riley felt blood start to trickle down the side of her mouth where he bit her. His tongue dived into her mouth; exploring and tasting. His hand slowly slide down around her throat and he squeezed.

"Since I couldn't have him I'll just have to make do with you," the mage said against her lips. He then pulls her body further up on the bed by her throat. She gasps as he slams her body on the bed and he motions on top of her. His hand travels down from her throat to grasp the stone between her breasts, "_He_ will not save you," and then he pulls the necklace off and sets it on the nightstand. He takes her cuffed hands with his right hand and lifts them up over her head. He holds them there as his left hand covers her clothed breast. His faces moves to her neck and he starts biting her as his hand grabs her breast.

"You like this don't you?" he says against her neck. He bites and sucks her earlobe causing her to shiver, "This too?" his hand goes under her breast band and he grabs her breast. She gasps and he laughs in her neck, "You learn so much about a person when watching from afar." Riley's eyes go wide at his sentence. She starts to whimper as the mage's bites become more forceful as well as the grip on her breast.

_Be strong Riley_, she says to herself. She tells herself this over and over as the mages' bites begin to go lower, as his hand starts to travel lower. She tells her self this as he leaves a trail of bite marks down to her breasts. She tells herself this as her eyes start to burn. She tells herself this as he bites the flesh in between and his hand retreats under the waistline of her trousers. _No-_

Then there's a knock on the doors, "Master?", a familiar voice calls. The doors open to reveal Keller and the women who brought her here. Kellers mouth turns into a small smirk at the sight of her, but the women remains unfazed.

"Why are you _interrupting_ me, Keller?" the mage asked in a growl.

"My apologies, Master. But _something_ has come up," Keller says. The mage growls down at Riley and pulls her up and off the bed by her hands. He pushes her towards the other two.

"Take her back to her cell," he says to the women. She nods and grabs Riley's cuffs. As they walk out she feels Kellers hand slide across her naked hip.

~.~

The women pushes Riley into the cell and leaves without a word, and she quickly brings her hands to her face. Her face is dry; she didn't cry. The blond hair girl looks at her with concern when she sees the red marks against her pale skin. Riley tries her best to ignore it.

"What's going on?" Riley asks the girl.

"I'm not sure," she whispers, "Groups of them left to the outside. I—I think one of them said a group was spotted near the entrance." Riley smiles as the girl tells her. She looks to the candle hanging outside her cell door.

"Did they empty the wax from that candle today?"

"No…" replies the girl. Riley smiles even more.

_Perfect_, she thinks, _Now I just have to wait_.


	4. Chapter 4: Rescue

**WARNING: Some Gore**

**Chapter Updated: 11/23/2015**

* * *

Just like Lyna promised, as soon as the morning sun started to rise they were off again. They continue to follow the path down for about another hour before they finally come across something. There was blood everywhere on the ground, as well as bodies. Lin recognized the armor of the dead men and it made his blood turn cold.

_If she is with these people…_ Lin shakes his head to stop that train of thought. They were close, he knows it. She has only been gone for a day. She would _not_ break that quickly.

Lin moves closer to the middle of the scene as the others move around it; looking for more clues. Lin brushes away a newly formed pile of dried leaves to relieve the markings in the dirt, and her daggers. The markings were made by boot prints, and they formed in a shape of an—arrow! Lin calls for the others to come near him and they look at what he found. They all agree it was Riley telling them where to go. Lin picks up the daggers and secures them on his belt.

_She would never part with these. Her father gave them to her for her 18th birthday_, Lin thinks.

They followed the direction of the arrow, and after a while they see footprints heading into the forest. They followed the footprints that lead them to a wooden door imbedded in stone.

"There are eyes about," Lyna whispers into his ear. He nods for he sensed them a while ago. The group dropped to the ground as arrows flew by and landed in the door. Lin, purple mist out, charged after the middle group of attackers. Tamlen and Fenarel attacked the groups on either side of him, and Lyna jumped back to stand on top of the stone. She was kneeling as she shot arrows into various people from each group.

They were making their attack, and Lin knew that Riley was starting hers.

~.~

Riley and the girl watch more groups of slavers run past them. Whoever was outside was scaring the mage. It made her laugh each time a group passed, and that made the girl look at her like she was crazy. Soon the groups cease, and all is quiet for quite some time. Then, as Riley was hoping for, a single slaver comes to their cells. He opens up her cell and, again, leaves the door wide open.

"Come with me," the slaver said.

"Oh certainly, but first…" that's when Riley rushed at the man, catching him off guard. She grabbed the man by the head and slammed his face into the stone wall. Over and over she slammed until the stone was painted red and the men fell—limp. The girl looked at her in horror as she did it, but Riley didn't care. She had to clear the way for them. Riley walks out of her cell and stops in front of the candle.

_Hope there's enough…_, she pulls down the candle holder and hot wax pours over her right wrist. Quickly she pulls her hand out of the cuff before the wax could hardened. The pain and force of her pull made her wrist ache, but it was worth it. She walks back to the dead slaver and takes his sword, twirling it to make her wrist work properly.

"H-hey! What about me!" the blond girl asks as she starts to leave. Riley looks back at the girl and gives her a comforting smile.

"Don't worry," she says, "The reason why those slavers left was because my friends are outside. Once they finish they'll come through here and let you out."

"But…why are you leaving?"

"To clear the way for them," Riley says then twirls the sword again, "and to get something taken from me." Then she ran down the long hallway. Riley makes sure to enter every single door, and manages to kill any remaining slavers. She also finds a nice pair of daggers and trades them for the lone sword. She rushes through, killing every single person that dares to stop her. Soon she's in the grand entrance; chest covered in blood and heaving from adrenaline. She looks at the big wooden doors and sees Keller standing in front of them.

"Damn girl," he says and draws his own daggers; his face grim, "Never should have messed with you…"

"You're right," she says and this time she gives him her devil grin while she rises her daggers, "Never should have made a _Hawke_ angry!" They charge at each other, dancing around one another slicing at anything they could hit. He manages to give her two more gashes on both of her sides, but she does more damage. Soon he ends up panting and he trips up on his feet. Riley comes up behind him and grabs his hair and pulls, causing him to grunt.

"See? Not so fun is it," she says, and before he can reply she slides her dagger deep across his throat. Blood spills from his neck and mouth. Riley watches as the life drains from his body then drops him in the pool of his own blood. She steps over the body and slowly starts to walk towards the big wooden doors.

~.~

They kept coming in waves, and at first Lin thought that it would never end. Soon, however, he cuts the throat of his last enemy and looks around to see that the others are finished as well. They stand there in their spots for a few minutes; to make sure everyone was killed. Once Lin was satisfied he motioned for the group to gather by the door. He waits for a nod from each to tell him that they're prepared, then he opens the door.

Behind it they see stone stairs leading down into earth and they follow it. The stairs lead them to a long hallway light by candles. They walk down the hall and open any doors that they might find. Each door they open though is empty, and then they come across the cells. The first rows of them are empty, until they get to the last two. In the second to last one they see a blond human girl cradling herself in a corner. In the last cell lies a dead body with blood coming from the face of it. At the sound of their footsteps the girls head pops up. When she sees them she runs to the cell door and grasps the bars with her cuffed hands.

"She was right!" the girl yells and Lin nods to her. Lyna goes up to the girls cell door and picks the lock with ease; swinging the door wide open. The girl runs into Lyna and gives the best hug she can, "Thank You! Thank You!" the girl sobs into Lyna's chest, but Lyna doesn't mind. Instead she rubs the girls head trying to come her sobs.

"Fenarel, take her back to camp. Have the Keeper look at her," Lyna says. Fenarel nods then motions, gently, for the girl to follow him.

Before they leave the girl turns back and looks at Lin, "She said you would come, but she didn't wait for you. She said she had to clear the way and get something back. I…I don't think she's going to be ok though, sir. She's…badly wounded, but went anyway."

Lin listened to the girl while looking at the dead corpse in the cell. After a pause he looks at the girl and gives her a small smile, "Her father trained her to be a killer." The girl stares at him, then at the corpse for a long moment before turning and leaving with Fenarel. Lin walks away from the cells and stands in front of the continuing hallway; staring into the dim darkness. He feels Lyna and Tamlen come to either side of him and then, together, they walk down the hall.

~.~

Riley enters the mages room. She expected to see him facing the fire, but this time his back was to the fire. He was staring at her with a deathly stare and a staff in his hand.

"I should never have bothered with the demon child," he says, "_You're_ more than qualified."

"I'm taking that as a compliment," Riley says, "I'm just here for the necklace."

"Little lying shit."

"How hurtful," she says playfully. The mage sneers at her as the fire from behind started to surround him. He shot out his hand and a fireball came rushing at her. Riley jumps on the edge of the table and does a backflip over the incoming fire. It hits the doors behind her causing her back to burn. She quickly jumps back onto the table and runs towards the mage. He shoots another fireball and she jumps over it. Coming to the other table side edge she jumps and points her daggers down at the mage. The mage moved back in the little space he had, but her daggers still manage to slice down his chest. She jumps to the bed side and watches the mage clench his bleeding chest with his free hand.

She goes to charge at him again, but his blood swirls his body and then comes rushing at her. Again, her body feels heavy and she falls to the floor. She _can't_ move. She sees the mages feet come up to her head and he _kicks_. Her head sharply turns sideways hitting the floor, causing her to blink several times. He grabs the top of her head and pulls her up to her feet. He then slams her body against the stone wall next to the bed.

"Now you die, _bitch_," he grabs her face; his large hand covering her mouth and nose. From the slits between the fingers she sees three figures enter the doorway. She tries to focus on them, and she wants to scream.

_Lin-_ But then the mage slams her head into the stone. She hears a crack and feels a flow of blood before everything goes black.

~.~

Lin watches as the familiar mage grabs her face. He watches as she looks at him—scared. He watches as the mage pulls her head back and _slams_ her against the wall. A crack sound echoes in the large space. He sees her scared eyes go behind her head as her body becomes limp. The mage lets go and she falls like a rag doll on the ground.

"_No-_" he hears Lyna breathe next him and he hears Tamlen suck in a sharp breath. The mage starts to turn towards them, but Lin is already on him. He shoves the mage hard against the fireplace and the purple mist swirls around him. His arm has already begun the transformation. The mage looks into his purple mist eyes and laughs.

"Since when do demons _care_—" before he could finish Lin shoves his transformed arm into the mages already open stomach. The mage bends forward as blood spilled from his mouth. Lin lifts him up by his arm, and he shoves the top half of the mage into the fire. The room is filled by the mages screams. Lin watches the mages head turn back and forth wildly in the fire. He watches as the face melts and the skull starts to show.

He doesn't remove his arm until the flames travel from the mages head down the length of his chest. With his arm removed it begins to transform back and the mist fades. The demon doesn't even try to suck the life force from the mage. Lin turns to face Riley and sees Lyna already there with Tamlen behind her. Lyna was _shaking_, and he could see the start of tears forming in her eyes.

"Riley…_Riley_!" Lyna says over and over. Lin comes to the other side of Riley's body as Lyna puts her hand under Riley's head. When she removes her hand it's soaked in blood. She starts to breath heavily and Lin reaches over to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Lyna," he says slowly. He continues calling her name until she finally looks at him, "Riley is fine."

"Fine?!" she practically shrieks. Lin nods at her then he starts to cradle Riley in his arms. The movement causes a mess of gurgles to spew from her motionless mouth. Lyna stares wide eyed as Riley's mouth slowly tries to move and her eyes blink, "Tamlen! Give me the bandages!" Lyna says, the leadership in her returning. Tamlen hands her the bandages and Lyna scoots more closely to Riley and Lin. Lin lifts Riley more to him to expose the back of her head to Lyna. Lyna's face grows annoyed and she shakes her head, "Her hair is in the way. There's too much of it."

"Then cut it off," Tamlen says, and Lin hears what sounds like a protesting gurgle escape Riley's mouth. Despite everything, he smiles. Riley loved her hair.

"Sorry, Riley," he whispers into her ear and she quietens. Lyna removes her hidden dagger and grabs the top of Riley's long braid. With a quick flick the braid is sliced from her head and lays in Lyna's hand. Lyna drops the braid and quickly unwraps the bandages and wraps them around Riley's open head. Lyna does three layers in order to feel satisfied. Lyna nods to Lin and stands up. He starts to stand up to, but Riley stops him.

"Ne…lace…" her lips say. At first he is confused, but then he looks down at her chest and sees no stone laying there.

"Here it is," Tamlen says going towards the nightstand. He hands Lin the necklace and Lin puts it back around Riley's neck. He then removes his cloak and places it around her half naked body. He lifts her up, bridal style as the humans would say, and then the group leave the cave.

~.~

Riley opens her eyes, and at first only sees darkness. After blinking a few times colors and shapes start to form around her. She sees the top of an aravel; Keeper Marethari's aravel. She slowly turns her head against the fur pillow, and sees Merrill kneeling and sleeping next to her. She doesn't want to wake her young friend, but…

Riley wills her right arm to move out of the fur covers. She cups Merrill's cheek with her hand. At the contact, Merrill's sleepy eyes slowly start to open. She looks around dozily and soon her eyes fall to Riley's.

"Merrill…" she whispers, voice hoarse. That seems to wake Merrill from her slumber for her eyes instantly go wide and aware. Merrill grabs her outstretched wrist with both hands and looks like she's about to cry. She does, in fact.

"_Hawke_," Merrill chokes through sobs. Merrill leans closer to her and rests her head on Riley's shoulder.

Riley smiles at her friend,"Shhh, my little one. Shh," Riley repeats removing her other hand from the furs and stroking the elf's short hair. She doesn't stop until Merrill's shaking shoulders and cries start to slow. Slowly Merrill lifts her face from Riley's shoulder and looks at her. For a long moment, that's all Merrill does. She stares at her and Riley stares back. Soon, though, Merrill's eyes go wide. She quickly stands up and rubs the tears off of her face.

"I have to go tell the Keeper that you're awake. Wait here," she says and Riley gives a hoarse laugh.

"I'm not going anywhere, Merrill."

"Yes..right of course," Merrill leaves the tent quickly and Riley stares back up. Slowly, her mind starts to fill her in on the events that happened last: the forest capture, the hair grabber, the mage with the white eye ordering her shirt removed, her body being restrained to the table, the mages non-healing hands over her wounds, the blond hair girl, the way the blood mage controlled her body, his _hands_ on her body, his _lips_ on her mouth, his…_tongue_ in her mouth, her smashing the slavers head on the stone wall, the burning of the wax on her wrist, the blood spilled on her naked torso as she killed, the look on the hair grabbers face as he died, the look on the mages face as she cut him, the feeling of burning hands covering her face, her necklace—Lin's face—

"How are you feeling, da'len?" Keeper Marethari asks as she enters her aravel.

"Been better," she replies.

"I bet," Keeper Marethari says with a smile. She comes to Riley's side and kneels like Merrill before, "Can you sit up?"

"Oh sure," Riley says. Slowly, very slowly, she lifts up using her arms for support. She can feel the bandages under her shirt move with her skin as she lifts. Slowly she raises her head, stopping every so often when her eyes start to spin. Soon she is sitting up. She raises a hand and presses it against the back of her neck. She feels a large scar covered by the bandages and—

Her eyes shoot open and she places both hands behind her neck, "My _hair_—"

"Yes, Lin said Lyna had to cut off your braid in order for the bandages to be put on," the Keeper tells her. The Keeper smiles at her when Riley looks at her with crazy shocked eyes, "Hair grows back—"

"I _know_ that! But my _hair_—"

"I think it looks okay," Merrill says coming into the aravel.

"Okay?!" she yells, but Merrill just smiles at her.

"Your father will be here soon to take you home," the Keeper said. Riley calms herself from freighting over her hair and looks at the Keeper, "I've already prepared some healing potions for you. Keep taking these and you should be fine soon," the Keeper hands her a small bottle, "Here's the first one." Riley takes it, opens the cap, and swallows the contents. Merrill hands her a little gourd of water to wash down the bitter taste, "I'll leave you be for now. There are others that wish to see you," the Keeper stands and walks to the slits of her aravel, "I'll call back for you when your father arrives."

"Ma serannas, Keeper Marethari…for everything," Riley says.

Keeper Marethari gives her a warm smile, "Always, da'len," then she leaves.

"Lyna is worried about you, too. Well, everyone really," Merrill tells her. She then looks to the bandages surrounding her forehead, her neck, and then the ones hidden under her shirt, "The Keeper tried to…fix what the mage did, but…" Riley realized Merrill was taking about the scars and she smiles shaking her head.

"It's alright, Merrill. I'm fine about it, really. Nothing like a few scars to make you stronger!"

Merrill laughs, "I suppose so. Do you want me to bring them in here?"

"Yeah," Riley says smiling and Merrill nods to her and leaves the aravel.

Soon the Keeper's aravel is filled with her friends. Lyna comes to her and hugs her, crying just like Merrill. Tamlen and Fenarel sat by the aravels slits, and Merrill comes to Riley's other side to hug her as well. Riley asked where Lin was and Tamlen shrugged saying that he hasn't seen him all day. Riley decided to leave it be, for now.

Riley and her friends talk and joke like normal. Then Fenarel asks about what exactly happened, and Lyna gives him her death look. Riley laughs, though, and tells Lyna that it was alright. She then told them everything that had happened. Lyna and Merrill were hugging her again at the end of it, and Tamlen and Fenarel gave her sympathetic smiles. Fenarel tells her that the Keeper healed the blond girls wounds and he took her to the village chantry. He said she gave nobody her name.

What seemed like too soon, Keeper Marethari returned saying that her father has arrived. Everyone said their goodbyes and gave hugs before they left.

Her father enters and smiles at her with relief. Riley's eyes start to water once she sets eyes on him. She puts both of her arms up, signaling for a hug, and her father is there. Tears start to rack her body as her father holds her. Somehow, he manages to remove her body from under the furs and places her on his lap; cradling her.

"It's alright now, love," her father says. His hand goes up and down her now short hair to soothe her.

"I'm so sorry father," she cries in his chest, "I…I promised…broken!"

"It's alright, my sweet. I knew it may happen one day," her father puts two fingers on her chin and lifts up her face. Blue eyes meet brown and her father smiles at her, "You did what I expected. I'm _proud_ of you." She smiles back at her father and rests her head under his bearded chin.

"And my body's _really_ sorry for not paying more attention in your blood mage lesson," she says.

"Yes. And I have to say I'm sorry too, for not forcing my stubborn child to pay more attention. Even when I knew she wasn't paying attention," he says with joke in his voice. She laughs at him.

"I think she was distracted by a butterfly that day."

"My stubbornness and lack of attention, I see? Oh, love, I'm sorry. At least you go your mother's look." They both laugh, then sit there hugging each other for a few silent minutes, "Let's get back home. Your mother said that if I don't take you back as soon as I get here she'll hit me."

"I think you're getting hit father."

"Yes, well let's hurry on before those punches become _more_ painful. Can you walk?"

"I think…" Her father puts her back on the bed cot to lift himself up. He holds both hands out to her and she grabs them. He pulls and her body follows. The ground instantly starts swaying under her, and she can feel herself about to faint again. Her father catches her with an arm around her waist and hand behind her head.

Her father sighs, "Me being a healer I should have known not to push too quickly. You have been out for three days."

"_Three_ days?!"

"Yes," her father smiles at her then bends down; back to her, "Now hop on." Riley puts her legs in between her father's arms and lays her arms around his neck. He stands with a grunt and Riley can't help herself from laughing hysterically. A father giving his nineteen year old daughter a piggy back ride; what a sight they must be!

"If you throw out your back I'm taking that as an insult by calling me fat," Riley says after her laughter.

"At least _I_ never said it," her father says with a mocking tone and she hits him lightly on the chest. Her father walks out of the tent and, after a quick thank you to the Keeper and her friends, walks into the Wilds.

~.~

When they arrive back at their farm house her father puts her down on the couch and her mother practically squeezes the life from her. Her mother lifts away to lightly hit her husband. Riley's little sister Bethany, even her little brother Carver, come running up to her on the couch and hug her on either side. Her mabari hound, Buddy, comes trotting up to her as well. He licks her feet and rests his head down on them.

She's safe and alive. Riley sighs against her sister's hair. She'll have to remember to thank Lin the next time she sees him.


	5. Chapter 5: The Promise

**WARNING: TRIGGER WARNING FOR RAPE VICTIMS, ALSO THIS CHAPTER IS NSFW**

**Chapter Updated: 11/24/2015**

* * *

For a week she rests. A week staying in her family's farm house with her mother teaching her any missed school lessons. A _week_ with no sign of Lin. No letter, no visit, nothing.

Riley was standing in her bedroom putting on her leather armor. The bandages around her body and head were now gone. Her father gave her leave to finally go outside again, and Maker be damned if she wasn't going to march straight to the Dalish camp. Her hound Buddy was resting on her bed; panting happily at her mumbles of anger. She puts on her gloves last and looks into her vanity to comb her short hair. She still had her side bang, if you can even call it that since it was now the same length as her hair. Her bang still covered most of the left side of her face; hanging down the length of her neck along with the rest of her hair. She didn't hate the look, but that feeling changes every time her brother calls her a boy.

"Damned if I'm not a pretty boy," she says to the reflection. She walks over to her bed and gives Buddy a pat and kiss on the head before going downstairs. Her mother made her favorite chocolate chip pancakes and she ate them hurriedly. Her mother shakes her head at her daughter with a smile on her face. Riley thanks her mother, kisses her on the cheek, and tells her she may be spending the night with the clan. Then leaves with her mother's permission. Walking behind the house to the Wilds she waves her hand at her father, brother, and sister in their wheat fields. Once she's in the Wilds she climbs her usually tree and starts hopping and swinging from tree to tree; loving the way her body was moving again, and missing her long braid flapping against the wind and her back.

Nearing the entrance Riley jumps down from the tree she's on and walks the rest of the way. Entering the camp, she says hello and thank you to everyone who greeted and said they were glad she was well. She goes to the hunters circle and sees her friends around their usual fire pit. Lyna and Merrill give her a hug as she comes, and Tamlen and Fenarel give her nods with smiles. She asks Lyna if Lin was around, and her friend frowns and shakes her head. Merrill tells her that the morning of the day she woke up he told the Keeper he had something to do. The Keeper asked what it was and how long it would take, but he didn't give her an answer. Riley huffed at that, then sat down with Lyna and Merrill. She tells the group that she's spending the night here, and that if he knows any better his ass will show up.

The group talk until midday, then Riley, Lyna, Tamlen, and Fenarel go out for a hunt and Merrill goes back to the Keeper for her studies. The four manage to kill a few deer that they quickly skin and remove the good meat. They go back to camp and put their winnings in the storage aravel. The group then sits around the fire where Hahren Paivel stood. They sat and listened to his old stories as several of other elves cooked the meal. They eat there then move back to their usual fire pit. The group talk and share their own stories until the sun is gone and the moon is up. Each say their goodnights to one another and retreat to their aravels.

Riley walks the small journey to Lin's tent. She lights the small fire and pours water over her wash cloth to rub her mask off. After an hour of waiting she sighs and extinguishes the fire. She retreats into his tent and turns on the lantern as she removes pieces of her armor until she's in her under clothes. Again she sits, and tells herself she'll stay up all night. Getting bored quickly however, she starts to make shadow puppets against the tent walls; saying their story in her head.

Riley throws her hands down when she starts to hear rustling outside the tent. Her hands went to her favorite daggers; they were on her bed neat and clean when she was able to return home. She listens as the sound of footsteps crush dry leaves and round the tent. She smiles as she sees a familiar hand with a blue gemmed ring enter the tents slit and she puts her hands back on her crossed legs.

Lin enters the tent fully, black hood over his head and black hair covering portions of his face. He looked like the night itself coming into the tent, and it gave Riley a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach. His purple eyes turn to her blue ones and she expects surprise, but instead he smiles at her. Like he knew she would be here at this moment.

"It's late," he says removing his cloak. His voice, that Riley hasn't heard for so _long_, makes the warmth in her stomach grow, "Aren't you tired?"

"Very," she says and yawns for added effect, "Why were you out so late?"

"Collecting these," he removes one of his belt pouches and sits next to her. He pours some of the contents onto the tent floor and Riley's eye go wide. Various jewels and jewelry fall to the floor, as well as a few sovereigns. Riley picks up a blue gem and rolls it around in her hand. She _loves_ shiny things, "All this for you," he says and when she looks at him he's smiling again.

"Where were you the other nights?" he sighs heavily at her question and starts to remove pieces of his armor. She watches-hypnotized. She sees the muscle under his tight undershirt work as he puts his hands behind his back to undo the claps. She watches as he drops his leather top on the ground and pulls off his gloves. He then sits down next to her and moves his hands to his knee guards. Unclasping them he removes his boots and places them and the knee guards with the rest of his armor. There he sat with his formfitting top and pants bare. She watches as he looks at her and he laughs slightly as a small blush appeared across her pale skin. She got caught staring.

"I'll tell you in the morning," he says. Tell her what? What did she ask?

_Oh yeah_, Riley thinks, remembering. Damn him for getting her off track so easily.

"Come on," he places his ringed hand to her cheek. He's being so…gentle, "Let's sleep." Riley manages a nod and pulls her bedroll next to his. He laughs softly as they both get into their bedrolls. Lin watches her sleep first, then soon follows.

~.~

He was running; has been on the run for three days now. He was hungry and dirty. The only thing keeping him going was that he had to get away from that cave, and from his clan. He doesn't, _can't_, hurt anyone else. He stops running and leans his side against a tree bark. The hunters sunken face kept swimming up to his mind. The Keeper's eyes of sorrow as he drove his mutated fingers through his skull.

He was becoming increasing aware of his again slowing heart. The demon's need to feed was starting to drive him mad.

"Look what we have here," he turns his body so that his back is now against the tree as he looks to the voice. He sees three male humans and one female dressed in poor leather armor; bandits.

"Doesn't look like he has anything on him," says the female as she looks him up and down. The demon inside started to growl as they came closer to him.

_No_—"Don't come near me!" he yells at the group with an outstretched hand, "I don't want to hurt you!"

"Hurt _us_?" said the first male and the group laughed, "Look at what state you're in, _elf_. I think we can take you."

"Please—" he said as they came even closer; drawing their weapons with smiles. It's no use, he can feel his heart slowly start to stop. He had no choice.

He watched the faces of the group as their smiles turned to silent shocks and their eyes to fear. The purple mist started to come from his outstretched arm and his eyes. Before the group even had the chance to turn around, bolts of mist shot out from his hand towards their feet; pinning them to the ground. Then he charged at them with his transformed arm. He put his hand through each of the men's hearts. Pausing slightly at each one for the demon to suck their life. His heart was still beating to slowly as he turned to the frightened women. He goes in stance to charge at her, but the demons voice stops him.

_No_, the demon says, _I want more from her_. His eyes grew in fear when he felt himself start to harden.

_No!_, he yells to the demon, _I can't do that! You can't make me!_

_I can and you will_, the demon replied laughing, _What will you do to survive, elf?_ He feels the demon surround his heart causing it to slow even further.

He didn't _want_ to do this, but his fear over took his mind as he pushed the women against a tree. Mist came from his arm and went to her hands; raising them up and over her head. His left hand came to her mouth and he pressed hard to keep her screams silent. He felt her tears on his hand as his transformed arm clawed at her waist. His pointed fingers tore her belt in half and pulls down her trousers, and small clothes part way; just enough. His hand then moves to untie the stings on the front of his trousers to let himself free. The demon forces his and her body into position. He wants to tell the women he's sorry, but the only thing that comes out is a growl as he thrusts into her. He feels more tears stream down between his fingers and vibrations on his hand from her growing screams.

_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!_ He says over and over in his mind. His whole body shudders as he fills her. The mist surrounding the women's wrists retreat back to his arm. The mist leaves from his eyes and arm as his heart beats normally again. He let's go of the women's face and her body sinks to the ground. Her lips are chapped and bleeding from her covered screams. Tears continue to stream down her face as she looks at the ground.

"…I'm sorry," he finally manages to say. His voice sick with grief and regret at what he has done. He puts himself back in his trousers and ties the knots.

"….Please," he hears the women say quietly. He looks at her but she continues to look at the ground, "Please….kill me." He takes one of the daggers from the dead men and walks over to her. He doesn't need to think about this. He knows this is the least bit of kindness he can offer her. He puts the tip under her breast, where her heart lied, and pushed the dagger forward. She gasps as blood seeps from her to the blade and ground. He watches her face until all life is gone, then closes her eyes and sends a silent prayer.

"What an impressive performance," He stands straight and spins his body fast towards the sound. He sees a man with fire coming from his hand; a mage. The mage had short black hair with streaks of grey on both sides. The mage had one brown eye while the other was white with a scar going through it.

He sees the mist start to form again around his eyes and arm, but not out of hunger. The demon was being defensive.

"Please…" he manages to say before the demon takes control again. He lifts one foot sticky with blood and steps towards the mage. He was hungry and tired of running. He doesn't care what this mage does to him, "Do whatever you will with me."

The mage's orange glow face smiles at his surrender. The mage looks as the mist slowly starts to consume his body, then his face turns to the bloody bodies on the ground.

"Good," he says smiling again as he looks to him once more, "You're name is now, Lin. And you shall be my pet," he nods to the mage, "Take him!" The mage says to the trees. He sees men start to surround him and hold him down. The demon's growl grew louder as they cuff and blindfold him. He hears the mage walk to him and place a hand over his chest. Suddenly, he is pushed back into the guard behind him as magic wraps his body. The demon screams inside and retreats, "Let's go pet." The guard pushes him foreword and he begins to walk.

Lin feels himself start to drift away from the memory as his name is called.

~.~

"Lin…_Lin_—" Lin wakes with a gasp and wide eyes. He grabs the hands that were on him, forces them together, and then shoves them down on the ground as he leans over the person. His eyes start to focus as he sees Riley's face filled with pain from her head being slammed down. Lin was holding her wrists above her head, and his cold sweat slowly dripped down onto her.

"Riley?"

"Yes, Lin. It's me," she says looking up at him with concerned eyes, "You were having a dream."

A dream. No, a memory. He lets go of her wrists and leans off of her. He sits in front of her with a hand shading his face. His elbow leaned against his propped leg and the other leg lied straight next to her. Riley sits up and kneels in front of him. She leans over slightly to place a hand against his wet cheek.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks rubbing her thumb on his cheek. Talk about it? He can't tell her that he raped a girl. How would she even take it? For all he knew she was just recently raped herself.

"No," he says strongly. He removes his hand from his face and rests it on his bent knee cap. He looks to the ground as her thumb continues to rub. After a moment he looks up at her un-masked face and brings a hand to her chin. He touches the scar on her lip and she kisses his finger. His hand then moves to the back of her head and he lightly traces the long scar there. He runs a hand through her short hair that stops at the base of her neck, "I'm sorry."

"For?" she asks him with a confused expression. Her thumb stopped rubbing his cheek, but still remained there.

"For finding me," he says, "If you hadn't found me this—what happened to you—"

"Lin," she says and moves her hand on his cheek to his chin. She places her index finger against his lips to silence him. She lifts her body up slightly so that she can move her knees; getting closer to him and resting in between the opening of his legs. The hand on his bent knee moves to wrap around her lower back, bringing her closer. She puts both of her hands on his cheeks; high enough that both of her thumbs are under his eyes and the tips of her fingers are at the base of his ears. She looks at him seriously, no joke in her eyes, "I was _not_ raped."

Lin lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and pulls her body closer. He rests his forehead against hers and places his free hand against her cheek. He looks into her eyes, "I thought…with those markings on you—"

"I know," she says looking back, "He…did things, but was luckily interrupted before going too far." Lin kisses her, gently. She wasn't raped. He came just in time.

He removes his lips and goes to rest his forehead to hers again, but Riley wants more. She moves her hands further up so that her fingers were behind his pointed ears. She grabs them and presses her thumbs behind the skin there. He gasps as warmth filled his face.

"Lin, I'm _fine_," she removes her knees from under her and wraps them around his waist. She pulls foreword with her legs and comes into contact with his groin. He gasps and shudders as a small ripple of pleasure comes over him. She grabs his ears again and pulls his face foreword to meet his lips. She kisses him hard against the mouth, then pulls away slightly, "So please. Stop being so gently with me."

She's on his mouth again. Biting the bottom of his lip and he lets her in. Their tongues danced around each other as they explored the others mouth. Riley removes first and they each take a deep breath of hot air. She moves one hand from his ear to his hair and pulls down; exposing his neck. She kisses, bites, and licks different areas of his neck; causing him to moan. He moves his hand from her cheek to wrap it around the top of her back, trying to bring her even closer.

He wants her, but even so he can't help the memory of that women appearing. Can't help remembering how this relationship between them wouldn't last. Her other hand on his cheek moved down to the bottom of his tunic. She puts her hand under it and starts to trace up his stomach with her fingertip. The contact causes his muscles to tense, but he can't help it that his mind focuses on the shaking of her hand; and the cold sweat on them. She was scared.

"Riley, stop," he says pulling back from her neck kisses and the hand on his stomach. She stops for a second to give him a lust filled smile.

"It doesn't feel like you want to stop," she says and rubs against his groin again.

"_Riley_—" he says through a suppressed groan and he uses the hands around her to pull her back slightly. She stops, and gives him her full attention. Playfulness gone, for the moment, "If you don't want to do this—"

"I do want to do this."

"You're scared," he takes her hand from under his shirt and shows it to her. Her hand shakes in his wrist.

"Of course I'm scared. That tends to happen when you're a virgin," she says staring at him. Didn't even turn away as a blush started to form on her face.

He blinks at her; confused. Then he gives her a side smile, "You don't act like one."

"How's one supposed to act?" she asks, but shrugs her shoulders indicating she wasn't looking for an answer, "Maybe I just like you too much."

"That's the other problem," he says growing serious again, "You deserve to be with someone with a relationship that will last. We talked about this."

"We did, and I still want you."

"Riley—"

"Lin, hush," he falls silent, "Lin, I know what we talked about. I know a long-term relationship won't last, and by the Maker I don't care," the hand in his hair falls to wrap around his neck. The hand that he held she removes and lays it on his clothed chest, "I want _you_. From the first time we met I've been curious about you. You filled my dreams and confuse me to no end. I know this won't last, and yes it does make me sad when I think about it," she drops her head for a moment then looks back at him with a smile on her lips and in her eyes, "My mother told me to live in the moment of today. To not worry about the next day, or the future to come. She told me to do what I want. And this," the hand on his chest grips the cloth of his tunic as she leans forward to place a gently kiss on his lips, "Is what _I_ want. So, let's make a promise."

"A promise?"

"Yeah," the light in her eyes grew, "Let's promise each other that neither of us will say those three words to each other. In any language. In the future, when we both go our separate ways we'll pray that we meet again. And if we do, we'll say it then if our feelings are still true. And if we find someone else, we tell each other, and we'll be happy."

He smiles at her, "I can promise that."

"Good," she lets go of his shirt and holds out her pinkie to him. He blinks again and laughs at her.

"Really Riley?"

"Hey, it's a sin to break one of these," she says with a playful smile of her own. He laughs again, but removes the arm around her waist to meet his pinkie with hers, "It's a promise," they say in unison and kiss each other.

"Now then," she pulls back from the kiss and looks at him filled with lust, "Do you remember where those marks were?"

"I do," he says. His voice and eyes filled with his own lust. She pulls down one sleeve over her shoulder, leaving her shoulder bare to him. She lays her head back and pulls his head against her neck.

"Make them your own." And he does. He wraps his arm around her waist again to keep her presence on his groin as he worked. He bites her only once. Making his mark just below her ear; her sweet spot. He then sucks her skin lightly, then blows hot air on the spot. He continues this down the length of her bare shoulder and she seems to melt under him. Her free hand tugs at his tunic and she manages a soft, "Off."

"You too," he says pulling back to lift her shirt off. She does the same to him and he's back at her throat. Her one hand bunches his hair as the other trails down his chest as he starts to untie her breastplate. He succeeds and throws it towards their discarded shirts. He then goes to kneel on his legs and he cradles the back of Riley's head; lying her down onto a bed roll. He kisses her and moves one leg in between her legs, and his free hand to her breast. She moans against his mouth as he rubs and tease her. He kisses her chin, the length of her neck, and travels down to her chest. He continues to tease and rub her breast as his mouth goes to her other breast. Riley's hands start at the bottom of his back and claw their way up to his hair where they stayed. She grabbed his hair and moaned as he worked, bringing her chest closer to his mouth.

He removes his hand from her head and traces her side down to her pants waist line. He tugs, and she lifts her hips; allowing him to pull her pants and small clothes down. He goes back to kissing her as his hand moves down to her already wet self. He inserts one finger slowly, allowing her to get used to the sensation. She gasps against his mouth and bucks her hips. He slowly starts to circle the inside of her, expanding her until he can put his second finger in. This time she moans loudly and her hips hit his. He licks and breathes against her slender neck as he circled her. Her hot breathe was breathing into his ear causing him to shiver. She lifts her head and licks the length of his ear and pinching the tip of it. He hisses in her neck and pushes his fingers further in her. She yells slightly and puts her legs around his waist.

She attempts to pull down his pants with her feet, "Lin, please," she groans again as he goes even further and she pushes with her feet again, "I _need_ you." He removes his fingers and her hips fall to the floor. He pulls down his pants and small clothes then leans over her. She wraps her legs back around him and he traces the two long lines against her chest and stomach. He positions himself then moves his hand to cover the scar against her lip.

"Are you sure?" he asks cupping her face.

She smiles at him and leans into his palm, "Yeah. I'm sure."

He enters her, slowly. Her head digs into the bed roll as she yells to the top of the tent. Slowly, he's fully inside of her. He lowers his body against her and kisses her lips, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she grunts through gritted teeth and Lin sees a small line of tears come from her eyes, "Just…give me a sec." He waits, kissing and licking her lip scar. After a few seconds he feels her start to adjust around him, and Riley sighs against his hair, "Okay," she takes one hand and lifts his face so that his eyes meet hers, "Move." And he does. He slowly removes almost completely them goes back in. Riley moves her hips to meet his, and then they come to their rhythm.

"Faster." He happily does as she asks and quickens his pace. His hands grabbing both of her sides and her hands move to grab his hair. The kiss each other heatedly as their pace quickens; causing a sheen of sweat to appear on both of their bodies. She breaks their kiss first as she screams up, "Lin!" And he knows. He feels hers start to flex against him and her body becomes ridden with shakes as she cums. He soon follows, grabbing her sides till they're red and letting out a loud groan of his own as he fills her.

Once his shudders are done he slowly, regretfully, removes himself and lays on his side next to her. She turns on her side to face him and rests her head on his arm as her head goes under his chin. He puts his free arm around her waist and pulls her towards him.

She pants against his neck, "I can't feel my legs."

He laughs into her hair, "Glad you enjoyed it." She laughs as well and tries to get closer to him.

"So," she starts, "I'm assuming you weren't a virgin. Considering how _well_ you did." He tries to think back to his past. Tries to remember if he ever had someone before the demon, and nobody came to his mind besides that women.

"Not that I remember," he says to her for it's the truth. She hums her understanding into his neck and falls silent. They continue to lay there in silence until he almost falls back to sleep, but then Riley starts laughing. She laughs so hard that little streams of tears fall from her eyes, "What's so funny?" he asks, very curious.

"No no! It's nothing really!" she laughs even harder, "Just my immature self appearing."

"About?"

She tries to calm her hysteria to explain to him, "Just the," she laughs again, "Slap slap slap," she says trying to recreate the noise with her hands.

His face burns from an intense blush as he realizes what she was referring to, "Riley!"

"I _told_ you! Immature Riley!" she laughs hard again against his neck. He puts his hand behind her head and pulls her closer to his neck, trying to silence her laughs. After a while she becomes quiet, and Lin can feel a steady breathing from her; indicating she was asleep. He kisses her head and smiles into her hair.

Oh, how badly he wanted to break that promise.

~.~

In the morning Riley forgets to ask him about where he was for all those nights, and he doesn't remind her.


	6. Chapter 6: Secrets

**Chapter Updated: 11/24/2015**

* * *

Now it's two years later.

And Riley's father is dying.

A plague slowly made its way to the land, and of course no one knows what it is or how it came to be. Lin visits the family every day when Riley's father was first diagnosed. Lin has come to enjoy everyone in her family, and they as well loved him.

Lin came to Malcolm Hawke after the night he and Riley became one. He asked the elder for training to keep her safe, and the man smiled at him and put his strong hand on his shoulder. Grabbing slightly while he said he would love to. Riley's mother, Leandra, began to treat him like her son. She would scold him for not wearing proper winter attire, and when he returned she knitted him a scarf. She would fret over the little bruises he would acquire from his training with her husband. Before he left she would always ask if he'll be alright, even when she knows what he is. Riley's siblings, Bethany and Carver, treated him as their older brother. He and Bethany walked through the markets occasionally. When Bethany saw something she liked Lin would buy it for her if he had the coin. Bethany would return the gift with various flowers she found in the fields. Carver started pulling pranks on him, but ones not as bad as he did with his sisters. Carver admitted to him one day while they were sparing that he liked him, and wished they were related.

As of now, Lin has stayed at the family household for three days. The moment Malcolm's condition began to look grave, he asked Keeper Marethari for permission to stay with Riley's family for a time. Keeper Marethari agreed, saying to stay for as long as they need him. The Keeper told him to give Malcolm all of her thanks and prayers, and he did.

The usually chipper Hawke family has grown quieter over the days. Riley tried her best each day to lift her family's spirits. She cooked when her mom was too tired and he helped. She tried to joke around just to see her family smile in these last days together. It won't help their father to leave them looking like this she tells them, and they try to be happier. Just for him.

Riley is scared, though. She confines this only to him when they are in her room. At night she would say that she's terrified. She knows her father will want her to take care of them, to protect them. She tells him she feels weak, that she's not ready. She doesn't want him to go. She doesn't want her papa to leave her. Each night she says this, and each night he comforts her. Sitting on her bed he cradles her as she weeps. He strokes her now, almost, shoulder length hair. When she finishes he repeats each night: you are ready, your father trained you for this day, you can protect them, believe in yourself, _I_ believe in you.

The seventh day is Malcolm Hawke's last. Lin sits with Riley and her siblings as each one enters the room at his request. First he asks for Carver, who returns with a hardened face. Second is Bethany, who returns with tears in her eyes as she holds his staff. Leandra goes in next, and is gone for quite a while. When she does return her eyes are red and her face is wet, but even so she gives Riley a small nod and smile. Riley goes in then, the last of them. She's in there for the rest of the night, likely comforting her father and promising she'll take care of the family.

It's almost morning by the time she comes back. When Riley returns, everyone knows by her face that he has passed on. Riley goes to sit with her mother on the love seat and they hug each other. Carver sits in their father's arm chair and stares into the fire with the same hard expression. Lin is holding Bethany's shaking frame on the couch, her knuckles completely white from grasping the staff. They stay up the rest of the night. When the morning sun comes up and the birds start their songs, Leandra stands up.

"I'm going to the Chantry now. To let the Revered Mother know," she says and walks out of the house. Carver and Bethany retreat to their rooms. Riley sits with her head down on the loveseat. Lin rises from the couch and goes to take her mother's place on the love seat. Lin sits and waits, staring into the now dim fire.

"I can do it."

"Yes, you can," he answers her non-question. Riley leans her head on his shoulder, and Lin laces her fingers with his own. They sit there in that position, until her mother returns and their bodies are warm. She tells them to prepare for the Mother and to tell Bethany and Carver, too. They both stand and walk up the stairs, their hands still together. Riley knocks on each of her siblings doors and says through the door to get ready. They then go to her room and ready themselves.

The three siblings head downstairs when the Revered Mother arrives. Lin stays in Riley's bedroom and listens through the closed door. He always came to the town late at night or early in the morning. He had to keep his presence secret to protect the clan. The only ones in town that knew of him was old man Barlin and Danal, the town's tavern owner. When Lin first started coming to the town Riley told him to meet her at Dane's Refuge late at night. When he entered the building the only ones in the room were her, Barlin, and Danal. Riley explained that he could trust these two when she saw his expression. She said these were the only two in town who knew about their family situation, and even so still wanted to help them.

Lin listened as the Revered Mother walked up the steps and entered the room where the cold body lied. He listens as she says her prayers. When she finishes he hears the Templars lift the body as they wrap it. Listens as they place the body in a casket and carry it down the stairs. Lin watches through the window as Riley, her family, the Revered Mother, and the Templars head up the hill that led to the family's tree. Lin walks down stairs and goes through the back door. He runs into the Wilds and hides there; following the group. Next to the tree there is a pyre set up. Malcolm asked him and Carver to prepare it, knowing full well what would happen.

Lin watches from the shadows as the Templars lift the body from the cask and place it on the pyre. The Revered Mother says another one of her prayers for the departed, and then takes the burning torch from one of the men. She hands the torch to Leandra, says a prayers for her and her family, and then leaves with the Templars. Leaving the family alone. When they are out of sight Riley looks straight at him, and he can't help a small smile to form. He could never hide from her.

Lin walks out from his spot and heads towards the family. He stands next to Bethany as Leandra hands Riley the torch. Riley takes it with a nod, then walks to the pyre. She bows her head, saying her own silent prayer, then places the torch at the bottom. She stands there until the flames become too much, then she walks back to her mother's side. They stand there silently, and none of them shed a tear. When the pyre and the body turn to ash and float away in the breeze, they walk back home.

The rest of the day is spent in the home with all of them sitting in the family room. Besides some idle conversation from Riley and her mother, and the break where they eat dinner, they sit in silence. When night falls Bethany and Carver retreat to their rooms, giving their mother a hug and kiss before going. Riley does the same and Lin gives Leandra a hug as they retreat to Riley's room. He and her change in her room, then lie on her bed. They stay up until they finally here Leandra's footsteps make the journey up the stairs and into the now empty room. Riley turns on the bed so that her back is against his chest, and falls asleep. He wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her close. He kisses the back of her head, then falls into a half-sleep.

~.~

Lin wakes from the shaking and sweating body next to him. He instantly sits up and stares down at Riley. Her face is twisted in pain and her mouth opens and closes, trying to draw breath. Her body is shaking hard enough that Lin has to place both of this hands on her shoulders; turning her so that she's on her back and he half sits on her.

"Riley," he says once trying to keep his voice calm. When she didn't respond he lowered his head to her ear and said again, "_Riley_—"He hears her gasps in his ear and he rises to look at her face. Her eyes were wide open now, and her usual blue orbs were now black. Her hair was stuck on her sweaty face and neck. Those black orbs looked wildly around, focusing on whatever her mind was making her see, "Riley," he says giving her a little shake. Her eyes stop and look at his, "It's alright, Riley. You're safe."

"Lin?"

"Yes." He watches as her breathing slows and her eyes return to their blue. He gets off her so that she can sit up. She puts both of her hands on her face and bends over, trying to calm herself. Lin goes to sit behind her, and opens his legs so that she rest in between. He wraps both of his arms around her waist, and leans his forehead on her neck.

"Guess now would be a good time tell you," she says giving him a weak laugh. He wants to tell that that she doesn't. He doesn't need to for he already knows, but he won't say that. He has waited for the day that she would tell him.

He doesn't respond to her, and she turns her body so that she is sideways in between his legs. She looks at him and he looks back. They both hold their gazes on each other for a while, until she finally turns her head and looks down at her hands.

She sighs, then starts, "My brother and me, we're no mages. We can't cast spells and we have no demons bothering us, but the mage line in both of my parents' family is strong. Really strong. Strong enough to where he and I have a very, very small portion of the fade within us. This portion gives my brother and me a little…boost. Well, more so for him then me," she sighs again.

"He's a lucky bastard. His gift, that's what my father called it, makes him stronger. Stronger than an average fifteen year old should be. And my 'wonderful' gift," she throws her hands in the air to exaggerate the word, "are these _dreams_. Sometimes when I sleep I'll have these dreams that are actually memories. Some are good and some are bad. Over time I've been able to control the good ones a bit. But the bad ones," she sighs then rests her side on his chest. Her head under his chin, "The _bad_ dreams. They go way out of my hands. They become worse then what I actually remember, and when I wake up I'm still living in it."

"And your eyes go black," he says stroking her side.

"That's what they tell me, though I of course never see it," she sighs again and tries to get closer to him, "Whenever those _nightmares_ happen, it was my father who came in and soothed me with healing magic. When my sister learned about it, she would help me as well. My mom would comfort me too, though healing magic is the best."

"No else knows besides your family?"

"Nope, well except for you now."

"So you dream up your memories, and you can sometimes shape them."

"Yeah," she says. She's quiet for a long moment before saying, "Sometimes…very rarely, I'll have…visions."

"Visions?" He moves his head back to look at her face, "Like, from the future?"

"Yeah, it only happened once though," she laughs and looks at him, "I wasn't just wondering around that late at night for nothing."

He blinks at her confused at first, but then realizations hits him and he smiles at her, "So I see."

"Yup," she sighs and leans into his chest. He strokes her back up to her neck and back down. It's time he told her.

"I have some secrets too," he says. She hums into his chest then sits up straight again, giving him her full attention. He tells her everything. He tells her the first memories he dreamt. He gives her every detail, because she deserves to hear it. She doesn't flinch when he tells her of the bodies, and of how the Keeper died. She tells him that no one could have known what would happen, and that she was proud of him for living up to his word. He gives her a sad smile and tells her he wishes he didn't. She begins to ask why, but he puts a finger to her lips.

"You remember how I was on our first night?" he asks and she nods, her lips moving against his finger. He moves his hand to cup her cheek, "That…was the worst." He tells her about his wood's encounter. This time he doesn't want to give her every detail, but he still does. She needed to know how much of a monster he was. And even as he explains what he did to the poor women she does not flinch. She doesn't not push away from his touch or tell him to get out.

Instead, she goes to her knees and cradles his now crying face. His shaking frame tries to hold her closer as she kisses his nose and wipes his tears. She moves her legs from under her so that they wrap around his waist. She coos in his ear and lets her fingers move through his hair.

"I..didn't tell you because…I thought….was _scared_—"

"I know, Lin," Riley whispers kindly, "I understand."

"You…you don't hate me?" Lin says through sobs in her neck.

"No. Lin," Riley pulls back so that she can hold his face and bring his eyes to hers, "I could _never_ hate you. Yes, what happened was horrible. But it was not _you_," she pokes to where his heart lied, "It was the demon. What's important is that you _knew_ it was wrong. You _wanted_ to stop. And you fulfilled the woman's wish," Riley cups Lin's face and kisses him, "_You_ are not a monster."

They kiss with their hands moving quickly to removes the others clothes. Riley tells him to let her work, to let her make him forget his past. He lets her, and feels the pain of his past slowly disappear by her touches and kisses.

Afterwards he looks down at her sleeping naked frame; light by the moonlight from her window. He brushes her bang away from her face and traces her lip scar, "I won't let anything hurt you again," he whispers and leans down to kiss her scar, "Even if it's myself."


	7. Chapter 7: Ostagar

**AN: **I know what you're thinking: "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Trust me, I yell that to my computer screen when I see a new post myself. But yes, I'm back! I had the urge to re-read this story and I'm slowly getting back into the grove of it. I think there's only one more chapter until we hit Dragon Age II.

For the ones who followed the story: I have updated the last chapters. Most of the changes are just some grammar things I found (though I'm sure I still missed a lot). There are a few story changes though. If you don't want to re-read the chapters I'll list the changes that were made:

1\. Lin's Vallaslin is DAI's Dirthamen's markings

2\. The blond hair girl now has hazel/light brown eyes instead of green

I think that's all the changes...

I'm sorry this chapter is so short! The last one will probably be long...

Oh! I also upload a story called "Beginning of the End". This story follows Lyna's events with the mirror. It coincides with this chapter.

Lyrics from the song _Time to Say Goodbye_ by Jeff Williams are used in this chapter. I consider this song to be Riley's theme.

Youtube link: /watch?v=RQXe22auYOw

* * *

_Three years later_

Riley is walking back home with a sack of fresh meat on her back. She whistles her victory as she walks. Maker was on her side today; blessing her with a good hunt to give her brother a good meal before he marched to Ostagar. She sighs to herself; she should really go with him. She should keep her little brother safe, even if he doesn't want it. But she has to keep the rest the family safe if the rumors of Ostagar are true. Riley keeps reminding herself; for it's what her brother told her.

Riley pauses her steps as faint figures appear ahead of her. She quickly goes behind a tree, drops the sack, and climbs. She jumps the trees until she's close enough to hear and see the group. Four men stood there: two with a sword and shield, one with a battleaxe, and the last was equipped with daggers.

"Are you sure this is the path, Walts?" the man with a battleaxe said to one of the shielded men.

The shielded man with a helmet on crossed his arms, "Yes, I am sure. The paper described this place perfectly."

The battleaxe man crosses his arms as well, "Well we've been standing here all blasted day. No sign of the chick." Riley raises a brow.

"It's said she wanders these woods frequently, and we're not leaving from this spot until she comes. The pot is good."

"Heh, maybe he's just scared to fight her," jokes the other shielded man. He's responded with a punch to the shoulder followed by a, "I am not scared of some kid."

"She's not a kid anymore," winks the shielded man, now rubbing his arm. Riley sneers at the man.

"Quiet! Someone's coming!" the dagger man said, and all four men drew their weapons. Riley looks forward and sees a single man start to come down the path. The man is dark skinned, with a small black beard and hair pulled back. His brown eyes were looking intently into the woods, as if he was searching for something.

"That's not her," says the shielded man.

"He looks like he could have some good coin on him though," says Walts, "Charge!" The group charged to the lone man. Riley was just about to jump down to help, but stares wide eyed as the man quickly drew his blades and sliced the neck of the shielded man. He then pushes Walts to stagger the man and turns quickly around to block the battleaxe's incoming blow. He stabs the man in the gut with one sword and uses his other to block Walt's shield. Walt's stares wide eyed as his man fell and the other man took no hesitation in putting both his swords in Walt's stomach. Riley watches mesmerized as the man sheathed his swords, but then her heart drops cold.

There was one more man.

Life seemed to slow as she saw the last man appear behind the unaware victim. He raises his daggers and Riley does as well. Jumping down to put both of her blades in the man's back. The sound caused the man to turn and those brown eyes now looked at her with curiosity. Riley pulls her daggers out then pats the dead man's head, "Thanks for the cushion." She then rises to stare back at the man, and notices a griffon emblem on the man's armor.

"Thank you for the help," the man says and bows to her, "My name is Duncan, of the Grey Wardens."

_Oh_. "I thought that emblem looked familiar," Riley smiles and bows as well, "My name is Riley Hawke. Hawke with the mask on."

"I see," Duncan smiles again, "Then thank you again, Hawke."

"There's really no need for thanks," she laughs and motions to the bodies, "I only took down one."

"True, but that one could have foolishly taken my life."

"Oh, I'm sure you would've been fine," she crosses her arms and goes into a relaxed stance, "So, what's a Grey Warden doing out here? Shouldn't you be at Ostagar?"

"Soon, but I heard there may be a ruin in these woods containing darkspawn," Duncan says looking into the Wilds. He then looks back at her, "I also heard that a Dalish camp was here. I'm hoping to get at least one recruit."

"So I see," Riley says with both brows raised. She then laughs, "Well sorry to say Warden, but you're heading the wrong way."

"As I feared," he raises a questioning brow to her, "You know where they are?"

"I do," she smiles, "I'm friends with them."

"Really?"

"Yup. I'm tell you the story on the way, but first let me grab my meat." She gives the Warden a shortened, less detailed version of her tale. Talking briefly about how her and her father found the clan, and explaining her dealings with ruining slaver's lives. She tells him that that group was most likely looking for her.

"I'm glad I was there, then," Duncan says after her story, "I'm sure you could've taken them, but the risk of being taken is always high when you get yourself involved with that."

Subconsciously, Riley touches her scared lip, "Very true." After some minutes of silence the opening of the Dalish camp appeared in the distance, "There you are, Warden."

"Thank you again, Hawke," Duncan says, smiling and bowing once more.

"All in a day's work, Warden," Riley says smiling and bowing as well, "Keep those eyes away from the purple eyed elf, though," she laughs and turns to leave, "You don't want him."

~.~

On the evening Lin shows up at her window. He taps and she opens for him. She smiles at him, but her smile fades when he doesn't embrace or smile back at her. He then opens his mouth, and she hears words that make her blood run cold.

"Tamlen is gone, and Lyna is gravely ill."

Somehow she manages to follow Lin back to the clan. She is now kneeling inside the Keeper's aravel, next to what looked like a dead person. The skin was pale—no, pale doesn't even describe it. She sees every vain that lies under the body, and her throat closes and eyes burn whenever she remembers who this is. Who this dead women is.

"You will be known if there is a recovery," the Keeper says. If. She said if.

Riley feels a hand fall on her shoulder and a head against the back of hers, "Come on, Riley," Lin, her Lin says to her and she grips where his hand rested, "Let's get back home. She would want you to spend time with your brother." Yes, he is right. Always right.

Now she is lying in her bed with a Lin overlooking her. She tries to think about dinner, of the conversations that were held, but she can remember none of them. The haze is too strong.

"Please, Riley," Lin begs her. His fingers comb through her hair, "Get some rest. I'm here, always will be."

She rests on his promise.

~.~

Two days.

Two days it takes for the dead women to come back to life.

Again, though, her blood turns cold when she gets to the clan entrance and is stopped by Lin, Merrill, and Fenarel. Fenarel tells her that she is already gone. Gone, with that Warden Duncan, to Ostagar. That she is to become a Grey Warden. Merrill, sweet Merrill, with her eyes to the ground she tells her that the clan is leaving tomorrow. Lin says nothing, but watches her.

She is sitting in front of her vanity now, messing with her hair that now went past her shoulder blades. Her window is open, already ready for Lin as he enters the dark room.

"I'm going to Ostagar tomorrow. With my brother," she tells the mirror, to Lin. He doesn't respond. Instead he comes to her side and leans on the vanity. He brings his hand to her cheek and motions her face up to look at him. Purple and blue stare at each other intently as his hand caress her face and her hand rises to his face.

"Last night," she whispers, voice breaking.

"Last night," he repeats. She rises up and kisses him. He kisses back and they both hold each other tightly.

Tonight is the night.

Tonight is the night they will hold, forever.

~.~

_That was the last night_, Riley says to herself over and over as her, her brother, and others walk the stone steps of Ostagar. The haze still stayed, but now greatly weakened by last night's events and knowing that her friend was here somewhere. Carver would bump his shoulder to hers every now and then, when the haze would take over her. He knew, her whole family knew, what had happened to the clan, to her friend. Right now Riley was not in her best mental state, something Carver told her over and over. She insisted though that she will be fine once she finds her, once she says goodbye.

Once they arrive her, Carver, and a few others of the group were assigned to Captain Varel. The group left to talk to their captain, received their orders and positions, then were free to roam the area. Riley walks up a stone hill to get to a broken stone pillar. At the top of the ramp she sees a group of people to her right looking over a darkspawn corpse. She takes a peek herself to know her enemies, then walks down a stone path to the farthest pillar. She circles the broken pillar and sees a Chantry Sister kneeling and praying to the horizon. She walks a bit further around the pillar, and then finally sees her.

Riley stops in her tracks and holds her breath as she watches the elf turn to look at her. Riley quickly gives her a quick look down. The only differences she saw was a couple of bruises combined with paler skin. When she saw the elf's eyes light up in surprise and her mouth up in joy, she ran to the elf. Both squeezing the life out of each other.

"_Hawke_—" Lyna said, and Riley couldn't help but smile in the elf's hair. Lyna always respected her wishes.

"Hey there," Riley says, then pulls back smiling, "You look good for a dead person."

"I'm fortunate," Lyna laughs then motions for Riley to sit with her on the empty pillar.

"So, how is it being a Grey Warden?" Riley asks as they sit.

"I'm not a Warden yet. Apparently there's some sort of ritual to do first. I'm supposed to go into the Wilds with a group to gather the components," Lyna says as she sits.

"Nothing is ever easy," Riley says with a sigh.

"Very true." The two fall silent for a beat, then Lyna turns to her with a sorrow expression, "Hawke I'm sor—"

"No," she cuts Lyna's sentence, "There is _no_ reason for you to apologize, Lyna."

"But I'm the reason why the clan had to—"

"Woah, woah. No you are not," Riley moves to kneel in front of the small elf, "Lyna, we both knew that the clan would be leaving one day. We both made a promise and we're keeping it," her mind starts to fill with the image of Lin, but she quickly pushes it aside, "_I_ should be the one saying, 'I'm sorry', to you. You lost Tamlen," her truth caused Lyna to tilt her head down. Riley brought the elf into a sit down hug and whispers, "I'm _sorry_, Lyna."

Lyna brings shaking arms around Rileys bent frame and squeezes, "Thank you," she whispers back. Lyna breaks them apart after a time and looks at her, eyes wet, "Still, I'm sorry about Lin, Hawke. I know how you two felt, everyone did."

Riley closes her eyes, then opens them again to give Lyna a smile, "Let's talk about a little less depressing things before we go to war, yes?" Lyna laughs and nods her head in agreement.

The two talk for an hour about random things before Lyna goes to her group. Riley stays a bit longer to look down on the battle that would come. After sayings a pray herself, she goes to find her brother and rejoin her team.

~.~

The rain clashes against the bodies of war: the dead, the fighting, and the enemy.

The haze was now fully gone from Rileys mind. Her mind now occupied multiple thoughts and objectives. First, keep her brother safe. Second, the feel of her mask melting from the rain. Third, that the battle was becoming longer than the original estimate. Their captain told them of the King's plan; that two Grey Wardens were to go up the Tower of Iseal and light the signal for reinforcements. It should have happened by now though, and Riley was starting to grow concerned.

Finally, Riley sees the fire of Iseal blaze in the storm. She waits, they all do, and still there is no rescue.

Riley races up the tall tree in their battle area. Riley heard her brother call her name as she climbed, but she couldn't stop now. She had to see, to know what was happening. As she climbed her father's last words, words that he has always told her, floated into the forth thing on her mind.

_Were we born to fight and die?_

At the top Riley searches hastily for the hundreds of armed people waiting for orders. At first all she sees are multiples of other small groups like hers fighting the darkspawn. Then, her eyes finally settle on the hundreds of torches in the distance. She watches them for a good minute before she finally sees them move—away from the battle. Riley stares, shocked.

_Sacrificed for one huge lie?_

Riley looks around, still with shocked eyes, at the battle bellow. She first looks at the small band of people trying to keep the darkspawn at bay. Then, her eyes moves to the main part, where the King and all the Grey Wardens were fighting. She then looks to the top of the tower, and anger replaces her shock.

_Are we heroes keeping peace?_

Riley looks down at her dagger clutched hands, and at her brother fighting below.

_Or are we weapons?_

Riley clutches her daggers even harder, and runs across the thick tree branch she was on; towards her brother.

_Pointed at the enemy_

Riley jumps off the tip of the branch and drives her daggers down into the darkspawn sneaking up on her brother. He turned around, bewildered as she breathed heavily down on the dead body. Slowly, she stood and looked at him.

_So someone else can claim a victory_

"We're leaving," Riley says to her brother, emotion gone from her voice.

"Leaving? We can't! The King—"

"King Calian is probably dead!" Riley yelled, causing a few others around the two to stare at her. Riley looks around at the group, takes a deep breathe, and talks, "Reinforcements are not coming. I watched them abandoned the battle. We were betrayed," she spits the word out like venom, "So we're going home. To protect our family," Riley looks around at the other people, "All of you should leave, too. Right now, your family's lives are important. Not a dead King's."

Riley turns and walks into the Wilds. Carver runs up next to her, and she hears the others follow as well.


	8. Chapter 8: A Broken Promise

**AN: **The story will continue after this, but it may take awhile. I have to play DA2 again to record it for my writing reference. Which means I also have to play Origins again in order to get the right file transfer for DA2. It works in my favor because I am thinking of continuing Lyna's story: Beginning of the End.

Lin &amp; Riley's theme song- Red_ Like Roses, Pt. II _by Jeff Williams

Youtube link - /watch?v=euuxPokAeIA

* * *

Moving through the woods nonstop Riley, Carver, and the others make it back to Lothering in less than a day. The villages' small guard comes up to the soaking wet group and Riley tells them of what happened at Ostagar. The guard goes from house to house to tell everyone there will be a meeting in the chantry very shortly, and that everyone is to attend. Riley goes to the chantry to explain what happened to the Revered Mother while Carver went to gather the family. Within the hour the chantry is full. Riley watches as the final people sit down and her family sits in the front.

"I'm afraid I have terrible news for you all," the Revered Mother started. She motions to Riley standing next to her, "Riley Hawke and her brother have returned with news of Ostagar." She nods at Riley for her to speak.

Riley walks up to the edge of the small platform, takes a deep breath and looks around the room, "The King's plan was for him and the Grey Warden forces to attack the bulk of the horde. Meanwhile multiple small groups were to defend the inside of Ostagar and help fight any resistance that came through. My brother and I were assigned to one of the small groups, and it was our job to make sure that the two assigned Grey Wardens who were to light the Tower of Iseal to send the flank reinforcements in made it," Riley started walking back and forth, but kept her sight on her people, "I watched as the tower's flame came on, but no one was coming. Curious, I climbed the tallest tree near me," she heard a few hushed laughs at her statement. She stopped in the middle of the platform and gave everyone her serious face.

"I watched as the thousands of people who were supposed to save the King retreated," this caused a loud commotion in the room with everyone asking questions.

"Who the hell was in command of them?!" yelled one male farmer.

"Loghain Mac Tir," Riley replied coolly which caused the room to grow in even more panic.

"There's no way the Hero of River Dane would leave the King!"

"Well he did!" yelled Riley.

"How do _you _even know the King is dead?!"

"Because I watched it!" Riley practically screeched. Riley's mother tried desperately to calm her daughter's mabari who started to growl, clearly sensing his owner's anger. When the room grew quiet she continued, "On top of that tree I watched as everyone below was slaughtered. There's no way the King made it out alive. And if he did, it would be as the darkspawn's prisoner," Riley bowed her head, "For his sake, I hope he died instead." The whole room was quiet, everyone bowing their heads and praying for the best for their young King.

"Revered Mother!" The room looked as Sister Leliana ran down the middle clutching a letter, "This just came from one of Loghain Mac Tir's soldiers!" She handed the letter to the Revered Mother. Riley watched as the Mother's face slowly turned to a frown as she read.

The Revered Mother moved to stand next to Riley, she held up the letter as she talked, "What Riley says is true. The King is dead," the room starts to get loud, but is quickly silenced when Revered Mother raises her free hand. She continues, "However, Loghain is saying the cause of the King's death is because of the Wardens. It says that he saw many of them retreat when they saw the battle was lost," the room instantly went into an uproar.

"But you said you saw the Wardens falling with the King!" someone yelled at Riley.

"I did!" she yelled back then pointed to the letter in the Mother's hand, "Are you going to believe some power hungry noble over someone who watched it all?!"

"How do we know that you don't just sympathize with the Wardens?!"

"Yeah! Wasn't one of your _knife ears_ made one?!" Riley's face grew red with anger at that comment and her dog was starting to lose it.

"Riley, _please_-"she heard her mother whisper to her through the chaos.

"Enough!" yelled the Revered Mother, the room went quiet again, "The last things in the letter say that Loghain has put a price on any Wardens handed to him, and that we may have less than a month before the horde arrives here."

"And he's not even sending support?!" Riley sneered then turned to the crowd, "And _that's _the kind of man you would believe?! Over one of your own?! Someone who constantly saves your asses-"

"Riley! Enough," her mother yelled at her.

"Now is not the time to place blame on anyone," Revered Mother said, "We must all pray for our fallen and prepare ourselves for what is to come." Everyone in the room silently agreed with the Mother. Some stayed to pray while others left to their homes or the tavern.

Riley jumped down and went to her family. She pats her dog's head to signal for him to follow her, "Riley, where are you—" but she didn't let her mother finish. Instead her and her trustful hound left the chantry and headed for the Wilds.

The two of them ran through the Wilds. Riley stayed on the ground to run alongside her dog. She ran through a number of tree branches that gave her small scratches across her face and arms, but she didn't care. She just kept running and ignored the small burns on her skin.

The two arrive at their destination and Riley uses the time to breathe. She kneels slightly as she places her hands on her knee caps and looks around at the now empty circle. She saw abandoned fire pits as well as some tools that probably fell from the aravels. It was so…quiet. It made Riley's heart clench.

Buddy went up and down inside the circle with his nose to the ground. She watched as he picked up on the scent he was looking for and followed it. She slowly stood straight as she watched her dog follow the trail out of the circle. He stopped when he reached his destination and started to pound and claw at the ground. Whining the whole time. Riley went to him and he stopped to look at her. She fell on her hands and knees. She put her head to the ground; clutching the dirt.

She cried.

~.~

Riley and Buddy didn't return to the village till midday. Before making the journey back Riley stopped at the river that was near the camp. She washed the dripping mask from her face and poured water over her cuts and hair. As they walked she ran her fingers through her hair to get any knots out. She was freezing from still wearing her soaked armor all night, and the scratches she acquired seemed to burn intensely now that water was on it. It also didn't help that her stomach was yelling at her. Along with her father's face filling her dreams, reminding her that she _had _to go back home. She has to protect her family and put her own feelings aside.

When they came closer to the Hawke home Buddy barked causing Riley to jump. She watched as he ran to the front porch and pounced on the person standing there. Riley looked up and gave a big smile to the person trying to hold her beast.

"Hey, uh, mind helping me out here Riley?" Lyna said. Her knees almost buckling at the weight.

"Come on boy," Riley laughed pulling lightly at his collar. Buddy went to the floor then jumped on the other mabari that Riley just saw, "When did you get him?" Riley asked Lyna.

"He was actually one of the mabaris from Ostagar. I helped him heal some of the taint that was in him, and I guess he remembered me," Lyna said smiling at the two dogs playing, "Looks like we weren't the only ones to survive he battle."

"We?" Riley asked with brows raised.

"Yeah, me and another Warden named Alistair were able to make it out. He and I were actually the ones in charge of setting the torch."

"I see, but how did you make it out?"

"I'll explain inside," Lyna said, "When we arrived a chantry sister named Leliana came to us. She told us about the price on Wardens and suggested we went somewhere safe. I didn't want to leave without seeing you so I came here."

"Well good," Riley hugged her friend and whispered, "Seems like I need a friend now more than ever."

"Same here," Lyna whispered back. The two of them, along with their mabaris, walked inside the house. They both removed their boots and weapons and left them at the door. Riley also removed some of her wetter armor and set it to dry by the fireplace. They walked into the kitchen where Riley saw her family with the addition of a man with blond hair, who she assumed to be the other Warden, Sister Leliana, which surprised Riley quite a bit, and a blacked hair women who looked extremely annoyed. Bethany was sitting next to Leliana talking with her, and Carver was sitting next to Alistair talking with him. When she and Lyna fully entered the kitchen everyone turned to look at them.

"Good to see my rebellious daughter is still alive", Leandra said giving Riley a disapproving look.

"Sorry, mother. I just, I had to—"

"I know, dear," she sighs then smiles, gesturing for the two to take a seat, "Sit down. I just finished making lunch."

"Thank you kindly, Lady Amell," Alistair said when Leandra placed a plate in front of him, "I haven't had good cooking in months."

"Anything to help the friends of friends of my children," Leandra replied as she passed all the plates around. The two friends sat down with Lyna being closest to Alistair and Riley closest to the black haired women.

"Let me introduce everyone," Lyna started, "You know Leliana. She offered to join up with us."

"I could more good with them in stopping the Blight than here," Leliana explained.

"A lot of people are going to miss you," Riley said.

"No doubt, especially this one," Leliana smiled patting Bethany's head.

"True, but I don't blame you Sister," Bethany replied.

"This is Alistair, the other Warden I mentioned," Lyna motioned to Alistair.

"Good to finally meet you, Hawke. My mentor Duncan told me about you while he was looking for the Dalish. Thanks for looking out for him."

"Just doing my job," Riley said the silently added, "I'm sorry for what happened."

"Me too."

"And this is Morrigan. Her mother rescued Alistair and I and healed us," Lyna gestured to the black haired women.

"For some bizarre reason that I'll never understand," Morrigan said.

"She's always that cheery," Alistair said sarcastically.

"So it seems," Carver said looking at Morrigan suspiciously.

"Relax boy. If I wanted to burn your house down I would have done it already," Morrigan said to him.

"Morrigan's an apostate," Lyna explained, "Another reason I thought we should come here. What with all the templars in this village."

"And we will always help mages," Leandra said finally sitting down to enjoy her lunch.

"So," Riley started looking around the table then stopping at Lyna, "What's the story?"

Everyone listened while Lyna recounted everything that has happened. Alistair jumped in a few times to continue to let Lyna eat. They told her basically everything Riley had told her village. The King and the Wardens were betrayed when Loghain decided to retreat his force. Now he sat on the throne and wanted every Grey Warden that could expose him dead. Alistair also explained how the battle at Ostagar should prove that this is indeed a true Blight.

_Great_, Riley thought to herself.

When they finished eating Riley and Lyna walked out the back door. The walked up and down the wheat field while they talked.

"I'm breaking him out too," Lyna said nodding when the qunari, Sten, came into their view.

"_He's _going to help you?" Riley questioned. That qunari killed a farming family close to the Hawke family. Bethany was devastated when she heard her friend had been murdered. Bethany instantly hated and feared his people. Riley told Lyna about all this.

"I know," Lyna said," But he has agreed to help us. I was going to ask the Revered Mother for the key, but with all this bullshit about the Wardens going around I doubt she will help me. Even if Leliana speaks up for me."

"Besides," Lyna continues and looks sadly at Sten, "I would hate to still be locked up when the darkspawn come. That's just…" she sighed.

"I understand," Riley said because she did. She wouldn't wish that on anyone.

"Were you at the clan last night?" Lyna asked.

"Yeah, or well, the space that the clan stayed at."

"Oh," Lyna said sadly.

"They're probably safe. I think Lin told me they were heading up north to escape the Blight," Riley said trying to reassure her friend.

"That's good," Lyna said with a small smile, but it quickly died when she sighed, "I just wanted to see them again."

"You will," Riley said pulling her friend into a sideways hug, "Once you kill this Blight you'll be able to do whatever you want!"

Lyna laughed, "You really think so?"

"Of course! How could they say no to someone who kills an Archdemon?"

"No, I mean stop the Blight," Lyna sighs and her worry shows on her face.

"I do," Riley moved to stand in front of Lyna. She placed both her hands on the elf's shoulders, squeezing to give her some strength, "You're a leader and a fighter. Everyone you every talked to seemed to believe in anything you said. And now you're slowing gathering a party to help you out," she hugged her friend tightly, "You're not alone in this, Lyna." Lyna hugged her back even tighter, not saying a word.

After a while the two separate and start to head back to the house. When they arrive Lyna tells her team that they'll be heading out soon. She says that they'll help out anyone else in the village then be on their way before sundown. The Hawke family hugged Lyna once more then watched from the front porch as the future heroes left.

When night hit Riley started to run a warm bath for herself. While waiting for the bath Bethany healed the small scratches on her big sisters skin.

"You ok, sis?" Bethany asked, concerned.

Riley smiled at her sister and rested her forehead against hers, "Yeah."

When her bath was finished Riley escaped to her room. She plopped down face first onto her bed. She heard Buddy run up and jump up too. She waited until he nestled beside her before she closed her eyes. She sent a silent pray to the Maker for Him to send her a damn miracle.

~.~

The clan has been moving for three days now, and surprisingly covered a lot of ground. The clan stopped on the third day because some of their supplies were running low. Keeper Marethari sent Lin and Fenarel to the nearby town for supplies, and to hopefully hear news of Ostagar. They got plenty of both.

Lin was listening in on a conversation between two men as Fenarel bought supplies.

"_Everyone?_"

"Yup, I hear Ostagar was a complete blood bath."

Lin didn't like the sound of that.

"Surely some people made it out?"

"Maybe, but the only place closest to Ostagar is Lothering. And you know that village is going to go to shit when the darkspawn show up."

Lin felt his blood go cold.

"Shit…how long do you think they have?"

"Rumor says that the new King sent a letter to them saying they have a month. Load of bull shit. The darkspawn will be there way sooner."

"Are you saying the King is purposefully misleading them? To slow down the darkspawn?"

"I'm not saying shit. The only thing I really know is that he didn't send any support for the poor bastards." Lin walked right up to the two men and both looked at him with distrust, "What do _you _want elf?"

"When did you hear this rumor," Lin asked.

The man scratched his bread, "I can't recall. I'm sure some coin will help—" Lin grabbed onto the man's collar and pulled him down. Lin heard the man's friend curse as he brought the humans face to his.

"I don't barter _shemlen_," Lin hissed bring the man's face even closer, "_When _did you hear this?"

"A-about a day ago," the man stuttered looking fearfully into Lin's purple eyes.

"Thanks," Lin let the man go and walked away hearing the humans throw curses at him.

"What in Creator's name were you doing?!" Fenarel asked when he finally caught up to him.

"Getting information."

When they arrived back to the clan Lin went straight to the Keeper and asked to speak with her privately. He and Keeper Marethari moved just outside the circle, and he could feel Merrill's and Fenarel's concerning eyes on his back. Ignoring it, he told her everything he heard. When she said nothing he continued:

"I'm going back."

"Lin—"

"No Keeper," he stops her, "I'm _going _back. And, I won't be coming back." He stares at her intently until she understood his meaning. She sighs and rubs her forehead. They both stand there in silence for what felt like hours, then she finally spoke:

"Alright."

"Thank you," Lin says then gives the Keeper a small hug before he turns and leaves.

"Wait! Don't you need—"

"I'll be fine Keeper," he says. He does look back though to stare at Merrill and Fenarel. He nods to both and says thanks before running.

_Hang on, Riley._

~.~

Riley wakes up to the sound of the alarms.

She springs out of bed, scaring the hell out of Buddy. She quickly goes to her closet and puts on her armor.

It's only been five days since Lyna left the village. During those days, though, the village started to set up warning procedures. First was the bell. Riley suggested it at the second meeting, if they had no warning they could all be killed in their sleep. Together the village sets up a small watch tower with numerous bells. Templars were stationed there 24/7 to watch the roads ahead. Second were the traps that Lyna helped Barlin build for his fields. Now, the village was surrounded by traps, but they kept one area free so the people could escape. Third was the training. Riley, Carver, and some Templars helped train anyone who was willing to fight.

They might have had a chance if they got the month of training they were aiming for. But five days?!

Once her armor is on she quickly puts on her backpack that was filled with her most personal treasures. She jumped down the stairs with Buddy close behind her, and almost landed right on her brother.

Carver helped her get steady, "Bethany is helping mother with her things. We'll catch up to you when we're ready to go." Riley nodded to her brother and started to head out the door when she noticed something.

"Carver, where's your personal bag?"

He pulled out his two handed sword, "I just need this." She nodded looking sadly at him before she sprinted out the door. She looked up at the sky and saw that daybreak just hit.

_A morning attack?_

She ran to the front of the village with her daggers out. She stopped when she saw Commander Bryant giving orders. When he was done she walked up to him.

"What's going on?" she yelled over the bells.

"Darkspawn have been spotted up ahead. We estimate that they'll be here within the hour. I sent men ahead to slow them down to buy us more time."

"Understood," Riley nodded, "I'll go help people escape." Riley and Buddy went door to door waking anyone who hadn't heard the bells. She also helped people collect their own personal things. Within the hour about 75% of the village were out of their homes. Then the darkspawn came.

Half of those who were trained in fighting ran to the front to help the templars. The other half stayed back with Riley to help the elderly, women, and children escape.

"Look out!" a women yelled at Riley. When she turned she saw some of the darkspawn were passing their frontlines and heading straight for them.

"Shit!" she yelled as she cut one down and Buddy jumped and tore at the second, "Don't stop! Keep moving to the escape route!" She yelled looking back at the people.

She and Buddy ran ahead to help the front lines. Both of them took down enough of darkspawn to lighten their front forces. Without knowing it, though, a shriek had sneaked up on her. Before it could sink its claws into her back it started to burn.

Riley whirled around at the sound and smell and saw her sister a few feet away. Her hands had fire around them as she shot fire balls at the last remaining darkspawn. No one, not even the templars seemed fazed by her use of magic. Bethany smiled at her sister, and she returned it.

"Riley!" Both Bethany and Riley looked to the noise and saw Carver run up with their mother close behind, "The darkspawn are starting to come from the left side of the escape route! The traps can only stop so many!" Riley nodded to her brother and they started to run. She heard the Commander Bryant tell the remaining citizens to follow them while they stayed to hold the front.

When they arrived Riley was horrified at the scene before her. True, the traps stopped many of the darkspawn, but still so many cut through. She saw a lot of bodies of men, women, and a few children lying on the road. She saw that more darkspawn were running to the remaining people. Riley and her family ran ahead. She backstabbed as many darkspawn as she could before they became aware of the reinforcement. Carver joined the fight cutting two down at a time with his sword. Bethany stayed by their mother's side as she shot fireballs to any coming towards them.

"There's too many of them!" Carver yelled. And to prove his point Riley heard the remaining village forces that were behind them fall, screaming to their deaths.

"Move forward! Don't stop!" she yelled at her family. Carver took the lead with Bethany and Leandra moving into the middle. Riley went to the end to watch their backs, but that meant no one was watching hers.

Riley yelped as she felt something close around her ankles.

"Sister!" Bethany yelled.

"Keep going!" Riley yelled back and grunted when she fell to the ground. When she looked to see what was holding her she was surprised to see it was magic. Riley looked up and saw a very tall and thin darkspawn hovering a few feet from her. Its hand was glowing the same color that was around her ankles. The creature pulled its hand back and she started being dragged across the ground.

"_Riley!_" she heard her mother cry.

"Go!" Riley yelled back. She sunk both of her daggers into the ground and held on for her life. The magic was too strong though and forced her to let go before her legs broke. She closed her eyes and prayed while she waited for her death, but it never came.

Instead, she stopped moving and heard the creature screech. She opened her eyes and saw a very familiar purple mist surround a _very _familiar elven man. He deflected the magic with the mist and ran his sword through the creature. It continued to screech as he pulled down, cutting the creature in two. Once its body stopped moving he turned around and smiled down at her.

"Still can't watch your own back, Riley?" Lin said. He held his smile as he helped her up. She clung to him kissing him passionately on the mouth. He returned with the same amount of passion, but quickly, too quickly, broke the kiss. She looked at him questionably, and saw that his skin was _deathly _pale. He was also sweating profusely, and his once dark purple eyes were now _very _light.

"Lin," she cradled his face, "How did you get here?"

"A _lot _of running." She looked at him worriedly. She didn't say a word as she ran one hand through his hair. The other stayed on his face. He closed his eyes and leaned into her and kissed her one more time before pulling her away slightly.

"Riley, you have to get your family out of here."

"Yeah, and you're coming with me," she said with a lump in her throat. _No, don't do this to me Lin_, her eyes said to him. She tried to pull him with her but his strength kept him in place.

"I can't Riley," he said sadly.

"What the hell do you mean you can't?"

"Look at me Riley," and she did once again. His skin seems to get paler and paler by the minute, the mist almost covered him fully.

"I'm dying Riley," her eyes snapped to his at those words and tears were starting to form.

"_You're not—_" she tried to choke out.

"I _am_," he said trying to keep the emotion from his voice. He lets her go and removes the ring from his finger, "The lyrium is all used up. Has been for a while."

"But you seemed fine!"

"I was faking it," he said rolling the ring in his palm, "I let the demon slowly eat my life so I could keep pretending that it was working. That everything was going to be alright." He closed his hand with the ring and looked at her, "I should have told you."

"Lin—" he hushed her as he pulled her towards him again. He took her right hand and placed his ring on her ring finger. He looked at her hand for a beat, then brought it up to his lips and kissed it. Riley was crying now when he looked up at her. He gave her a sad smile and kissed her, giving her all of his emotion.

"_I love you, Riley Hawke_," he whispers against her lips. Her eyes snap open and she looked straight into his sad eyes. He shoved her away before she could say it back, he didn't want her to say it back.

"Go! Live!" He yelled at her and she watched his back as he ran into the village.

~.~

When he entered the heart of the village he saw bodies everywhere. Those who couldn't escape fast enough were slaughtered. Buildings were starting to burn and he could smell the burning flesh of people who were still inside. He turned and saw a darkspawn picking apart the body of a child, and that set him off.

His arm transformed instantly and the mist engulfed him. He charged at the darkspawn and tore it to pieces. He did the same to any darkspawn that were around him. When the mist covered him he disappeared only to reappear behind each darkspawn.

When he killed the last one he stopped and held his head. His vision kept going in and out and he could start to feel himself being disconnected from his body.

"Lin?" a gruff voiced called. Lin whirled around and saw old man Barlin coming out from behind a stack of Danal's beer barrels.

"What in Creator's name are you still doing here, Barlin?" Lin asked, his voice slowly becoming the demons. When Barlin came out fully Lin saw that his left knee was badly damaged.

"Bastards caught me in the leg," Barlin said when he saw Lin's stare, "What the hell's happening to you?"

"Not of anyone's concern anymore," Lin replied. He walked to the old man and placed his left hand on the injured knee. The mist swirled around the injury and healed it. Barlin looked memorized as he bent and threw his knee; like it was never injured at all.

"Nice," the old man commented.

A roar from the village entrance caught the men's attention.

They saw a darkspawn ogre approaching the village. Behind the beast was another horde.

"You have to get out of here Barlin," Lin said keeping his gaze on the ogre.

"I can help you fight now!"

"No, you'll only die," Lin turns onto the man. Lin looks to the ground, then removes the necklace around his neck and hands it to the old man, "You _need _to give this to Riley."

"But—"

"Please, Barlin," Lin said with a smile, "grant a demon his last wish." Barlin looked at him then down at the necklace that his hand held. Barlin took it from him and clutched it.

"You were never a demon to me, Lin," Barlin said to the necklace, then looked up at him, "Not to anyone." Barlin squeezed Lin's shoulder before turning and running through the escape route.

Lin watched the man run until he could no longer see him. Taking a deep breathe he turned and faced the upcoming forced. The darkspawn stopped by the entrance watching him and he returned the look. A darkspawn screamed and ran towards him. He watched as the horde ran to him, the ogre slowly making its way.

Once the horde was at halfway he charged at them. The mist swirled around him and shot at any darkspawn around him. He slashed with his sword and clawed with his arm at the enemies. Each one that fell the demons power grew making Lin feel more disconnected with every kill.

The demon was getting cocky with every kill. Lin could hear the demon laugh with his mouth when more blood covered the ground. Lin felt himself leave his body, and then he was watching himself. His body no longer looked like him: the skin was now a light grey color, both of his arms were now transformed, behind his ears he saw horns starting to grow, where there was white was now black in his eyes, the black contrast seemed to make the light purple eyes pop out. The face had the expression of an evil grin that got wider with each kill.

Soon the demon was standing alone with the dead darkspawn surrounding it in a circle. The demon started to walk towards the ogre, but Lin saw movement behind the demon. A shriek had somehow made it behind the demon and positioned its claw.

Lin gave no warning. He watched as the claw went through the demons back and came out of the stomach. The demon yelled when the shriek pulled out, but before going down the demon whipped his sword behind and decapitated the shriek.

When the demon knelt on the blood soaked ground Lin was pulled back into his body. He cried out in pain and watched with tear filled eyes at the ogre in front of him. The ogre grabbed him and lifted him up to its face.

In the ogres eyes Lin saw his life and lost memories: he sees his mother and father playing hide and seek with him as a child, he watches as time jumps to when he and his mother are saying goodbye to his father and the other hunters, he then sees his mother bent in front of the Keeper crying her husband's name, then time jumps to that cave, he watches again at the people he killed, then the orange glowed face that turned into the moonlight face of the girl he loved.

His eyes were now filled with memories of her: those blue eyes that always shined, her black braid flowing in the wind as she jumped tree to tree, her terrible jokes, her and their group of friends around a fire listening to her and laughing, her laughter, the first time he met her family and instantly felt at home, their first night together followed by the rest of those wonderful nights, her smile that always made his heart—

_Beat_

The ogre roared in his face—

_..beat_

as it snapped his spine—

…_beat_

It throws him against a building—

….._beat_

then roared its victory.

….._beat_…_beat_…..

His heart went slower and slower. The last thing he sees is her face when he breaks their promise to each other, how those blue eyes went huge and lips started to form the words as well, but then the scene transforms to her taking the blindfold off his eyes. So beautiful his moon is, making him smile, then—

_Silence._

_Darkness._

_A light._

_Goodbye, my moon._

_Ar lath ma._


End file.
